Vietnam takes on China, says India can explore its oil

Hanoi, October 9
Unfazed by Chinese threats, Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang today said India and other foreign nations were welcome to explore hydrocarbons in areas within his country's jurisdiction, as he sought to deepen strategic and defence ties with New Delhi.
Ahead of his maiden state visit to India from Tuesday, President Sang said the objectives of his trip are to continue to strengthen friendship between the two peoples, reinforce, deepen and add greater substance to bilateral strategic partnership.
"This visit takes place in the context that the time-honoured traditional friendship and strategic partnership between Vietnam and India are witnessing strong growth in all areas for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development," Sang said.
"We note with satisfaction the fine developments of the strategic partnership between the two countries in all areas, including security- defence," he said.
The high-level visit, which will be closely followed by Beijing, comes at a time when both countries are having their own difficulties with China. Commenting on the controversy over oil exploration by India in two Vietnamese oil blocks in the South China Sea with Chinese authorities raising objections claiming that it was their area, Sang defended Hanoi's deal with India.
"It is a fact that all cooperation projects between Vietnam and other partners, including ONGC, in the field of oil and gas are located on the continental shelf, within the exclusive economic zone and under the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of Vietnam, entirely in conformity with international laws, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," he said.
We welcome foreign companies to work with Vietnamese partners in oil and gas projects on the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of Vietnam and in conformity with Vietnamese laws," Sang said The Chinese claim on the South China Sea has been rejected by both India and Vietnam, saying as per the UN the blocks belong to Vietnam. India has also made it clear that its state-owned firm would continue to explore in the resource-rich South China Sea.
The President said Vietnam was also committed to protecting the legitimate interests of foreign companies which have invested in the country.
"Vietnam commits and is responsible for protecting the rights and legitimate interests of foreign companies doing business in Vietnam," the 62-year-old leader, also a politburo standing member of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, said.
Asked if Beijing was overbearing in its attitude towards Hanoi, the Vietnamese President said that his country hoped that China's fast paced development would contribute positively to peace, stability and progress.
"China is a country with a growing role and influence in the region and the world. We hope that China's development will contribute positively to peace, stability and development in the region and the world," he said.

‘China an important neighbour’

China and Vietnam fought a brief war in 1979 and according to analysts, Hanoi has grown wary of the Middle Kingdom's growing economic and military might. But the Vietnamese President sought to downplay this. “China is an important and close neighbouring country of Vietnam,” he said, adding that Hanoi attached great importance to the development of good neighbourliness and comprehensive cooperation with China, which constitutes a priority in its foreign policy.