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China intrudes Vietnam’s eco zone, places coast guards

The area has India’s commercial interest as ONGC Videsh Ltd has its oil block in shareholding with Russia’s Rosneft.

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Bejing placed two of its coast guard ships near ONGC’s block
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China in its third major intrusion has placed 20 of its ships in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. The area has India’s commercial interest as ONGC Videsh Ltd has its oil block in shareholding with Russia’s Rosneft.

Bejing has placed two of its coast guard ships near ONGC’s block. This is the second intrusion by the Chinese this year, which began on August 13.

Six coast guard ships, 10 fishing ships and two service ships along with H6 bomber, fighter aircraft and mid-air re-fuellers have also been spotted. Chinese have asked Vietnamese drillers to leave the intruded area.

The first intrusion began on July. The number of ships at that time were 35 but air power was limited.

Interestingly, the Chinese deployment was removed after foreign ministers of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met on August 1 and 2. 

The meet saw the participation of over 20 foreign ministers including the Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar and China’s Wang Yi.

“It is a calculated move. At the Bangkok meeting, Chinese side had said peace and security prevails in the region. Deep down, this is the destruction of freedom of navigation,” the source added.

After the first intrusion, Chinese envoys were contacted several times. Since the intrusion of August 13, the Chinese envoys have been contacted seven times by the Vietnamese. Hanoi is mulling a number of legal actions and will take the issue to United Nations Security Council.

“Just follow the same China, Pakistan model at the UNSC. If Pakistan can take a bilateral issue at UNSC, South China Sea is still an international issue,” said a diplomat.  

Indian and Russian governments who have a commercial interest in the area have been informed. Vietnamese envoys have reached out to global capitals and the country is in touch with its partners like US, Australia and 16 other players.

This is the third major intrusion by the Chinese since 2011. In 2011, Chinese had cut Vietnamese cables and in 2014, Beijing had placed a drilling platform, which was later withdrawn.

Second Intrusion

In this intrusion, six coast guard ships, 10 fishing ships and two service ships along with H6 bomber, fighter aircraft and mid-air refuelers have been spotted hovering near ONGC’s block

Zee Media Newsroom

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