India and Vietnam Relations for UPSC

GS-PAPER-2 International Relation- Political science (Mains)

Context: Guided by ACT East Asia policy and Indo-Pacific strategy India is working towards EXTENDED NEIGHBOURHOOD. The role of Vietnam is very critical for India ranging from Strategic to Energy security. This topic is highly important for UPSC mains and Political science.

India and Vietnam signed seven pacts during their virtual summit, in areas such as defence, petrochemicals, and nuclear energy, and agreed to intensify their development partnership that will enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and develop capabilities to address climate change.

Memorandums of Understanding:

• Specific agreement will cover USD 5 million Indian Grant Assistance for Army Software Park at National Telecommunications University, Nha Trang, Vietnam.
• Both sides committed to promote bilateral cooperation between the “regulatory bodies of the two countries in the fields of radiation protection and nuclear safety.”
• Agreements covered diverse areas such as IT, UN peacekeeping and cancer research.

Defence major area of cooperation:

India and Vietnam are important factors of stability in the Indo-Pacific region. The two sides will step up their military-to-military exchanges, training and capacity-building programmes across the three services and coast guards and will intensify their defence industry collaboration building on India’s defence credit lines extended to Vietnam.

• VINBAX is the military exercise between the armies of India and Vietnam.
• Both sides will engage more closely through institutionalized dialogue mechanisms in dealing with traditional and non-traditional security threats in cyber and maritime domains, terrorism, natural disasters, health security, water security, transnational crimes etc, including through enhanced legal and judicial cooperation, where required.
• One such example is the successful implementation of the High-Speed Guard Boat (HSGB) Manufacturing Project for Vietnam Border Guard Command under the US dollar 100 million Defence Line of Credit extended by the Government of India to Vietnam.

Terrorism: joint efforts in building a strong consensus for early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

South China Sea:

• Both sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, while pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• Both leaders further called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in its entirety.

Both countries in the region:

• Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN): To foster practical cooperation between ASEAN and India in the key areas and in line with the objectives and principles as stated in the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
• UN Security Council: The two sides will actively promote reformed multilateralism to make international organizations, including the UN Security Council, more representative, contemporary and capable of dealing with current challenges.
• Cooperation in the Post Pandemic Era: Acknowledging the new challenges as well as opportunities brought upon by Covid-19 pandemic, the two sides will work towards reliable, efficient and resilient supply chains, and will promote human-centric globalization.

Economic Cooperation:

• New horizons for partnership created by India’s goal to become a US dollar 5 trillion economy by 2024 and Vietnam’s ambition to become a high-income economy by 2045 will be fully explored for all segments of economy, including blue economy, MSMEs and farming communities of the two countries.
• India and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic partnership. One great example of economic cooperation is completion of the Development Projects with Indian ‘Grant-in-Aid’ Assistance of US dollar 1.5 million for the benefit of the local community in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province.

Climate Change:

• India advocated that Vietnam’s possible future participation in the International Solar Alliance would bring new opportunities for cooperation in large-scale deployment of solar energy.
• India looks forward to Vietnam’s joining the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in the near future.
• They agreed to expand the Mekong - Ganga Quick Impact Projects.

Cultural:

• Both sides will actively cooperate to publish an Encyclopedia of India - Vietnam Cultural and Civilizational Relations to mark the 50^th anniversary of India - Vietnam diplomatic relations in 2022.
• The two sides will promote understanding and research of their shared cultural and civilizational heritage, including Buddhist and Cham cultures, traditions and ancient scriptures.
• The traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Vietnam-Traditional Medicine share many common threads of rich knowledge of health.
• Yoga has emerged as a symbol of peace and harmony and shared pursuit of spiritual wellbeing and happiness.
• New Development Partnership projects in heritage conservation in Vietnam (F-block of Temple at My Son; Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery in Quang Nam and Nhan Cham Tower in Phu Yen) will be materialised.

People-to-People Exchange: By increasing direct flights, providing ease of travelling through simplified visa procedures and facilitating tourism.

Education: They will further strengthen and institutionalize linkages such as Parliamentary exchanges; relations between Indian States and Vietnamese Provinces; exchanges between social organisations and youth organizations; collaboration between educational institutions; engagement between think tanks; joint research programmes; and exchanges in media, film, TV shows and sports.

Conclusion

Act East Policy is the core of Indo-Pacific strategy and Vietnam is the core of Act East Asia Policy. The close relationship between the two countries is significant for the maintenance of strategic balance in South East Asia which is witnessing aggressive Chinese activities.

Keeping in mind the strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, primarily those posed by China, India and Vietnam should work in close coordination at multilateral institutions such as the UN Security Council, where both India and Vietnam are elected to be non-permanent members in 2021.