(TibetanReview.net, Nov01’25) – In comments clearly directed at China without mentioning it by name, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has on Nov 1 advocated for respect for international law and freedom of navigation and overflight in the hotly contested South China Sea maritime territory.
China is locked in a dispute with five other countries — Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan — with each having overlapping claims in the hydrocarbon and other maritime resources-rich South China Sea.
Singh was speaking at the ASEAN defence ministers meeting at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Barring Taiwan, the other countries locked in a dispute with China are members of the ASEAN.
Making a reference to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Singh has said, “India’s advocacy for freedom of navigation and overflight in the Indo-Pacific, are not directed against any country but are meant to safeguard the collective interests of all regional stakeholders”.
The Philippines won its case against China at the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration on Jul 12, 2016. The tribunal ruled in favour of the Philippines, finding that China’s claims to historic rights within the “nine-dash line” had no legal basis under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
However, China refused to accept the verdict. The country lays claim to practically the whole of the South China Sea by laying false claims over islands, including by building artificial ones, to enormously extend its maritime territorial rights over the other countries’ doorsteps.
Singh has also asserted that India’s strategic engagement with ASEAN is not transactional but long-term and principle-driven, resting on a shared belief that the Indo-Pacific should remain open, inclusive, and free from coercion, noted tribuneindia.com Nov 1.
India’s security vision for the Indo-Pacific integrates defence cooperation with economic development, technology sharing, and human resource advancement. The interlinkages between security, growth, and sustainability define India’s approach to partnership with ASEAN, the minister has added.