China on Wednesday reacted strongly to the Quad Ministerial meeting that voiced serious concerns over the situation in the East and South China Sea, saying they should stop meddling in maritime affairs in its neighbourhood.
China calls the shoal Huangyan Dao. China has already deployed some of its biggest CCG vessels in the area to assert its claims.
If Iran and Oman choose to charge a fee for rendering services to vessels using their territorial waters, so be it. The US is indulging in an irrationally self-destructive act, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In response to the Quad ministers' joint statement, China on Tuesday said it opposes the creation of exclusive 'small cliques' and 'bloc confrontation'.
For India, China's Indian Ocean power projection, maritime domain awareness, dual-use ports, underwater surveillance, antisubmarinewarfare, naval exercises with Pakistan, pose considerable pressure, depleted India's strategic depth and marginalises Indian role, points out Srikanth Kondapalli.
The Quad grouping has expanded cooperation in critical minerals and energy, while unveiling new measures to boost maritime surveillance and port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific. This move comes against the backdrop of China's growing military posturing in the region, with ministers reiterating strong opposition to destabilising actions and expressing serious concerns over militarisation of disputed features.
While the Andaman and Nicobar islands serve as a vital, stationary asset for projecting power in the Indian Ocean, referring to them as an unsinkable aircraft carrier ignores key military and geopolitical limitations, explains Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The Beijing summit may have reduced immediate diplomatic uncertainty, but it did not resolve the deeper structural contest between the United States and China. That contest appears likely to define the coming decade, notes Varun Arya.
Vietnam is an emerging regional power and a closer relationship with Hanoi is closely aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Act East Policy, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
A new report suggests China's maritime vulnerability lies in the Strait of Hormuz, not Malacca, creating strategic competition in the Indian Ocean.
The visit is part of the "Op Deployment of #IndianNavy's @IN_EasternFleet to the #SouthChinaSea," it said, amidst China flexing its muscles in the South China Sea.
China has denied any links to the Iranian cargo ship seized by the US in the Gulf, which allegedly contained chemical materials for manufacturing missiles. The denial follows allegations by former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, who claimed the ship was headed from China to Iran.
There have been growing global concerns over China's sweeping claims of sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons.
India's crude oil imports from Russia reached a record high of approximately 2.73 million barrels per day (mbpd) in June, driven by discounts of $2-5 a barrel. This surge comes as the West Asia crisis disrupted supplies from traditional sources and China reduced its own purchases, leading Russia to offer more favourable terms to India.
Beijing has been wary of Sanae Takaichi's efforts to boost Japan's military profile since taking office six months ago, points out Dr Rajaram Panda.
Successful interceptor, anti-ship, MIRV and hypersonic technology tests have strengthened India's position among a select group of advanced missile powers.
The Philippines Navy this month alleged that the Chinese ships used water cannons to attack its ships.
Much will depend on how the protagonists use the current interlude to work proactively for the beginning of a durable settlement or, on the contrary, prepare for a new round of escalation, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Experts' worries intensified after Pakistan commissioned its first Chinese-built Hangor-class submarine, PNS Hangor, last month.
China released a white paper against the UN-backed tribunal's verdict, insisting that Beijing has claims over the strategic region for 2,000 years.
'We won not (only) because we were able to carry out long-range precision strikes.' 'That is, of course, one of the reasons but we had better situational awareness about what's happening than Pakistan.'
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said the United States would prefer to end its extension of waivers on Russian oil "as soon as possible", while noting that such decisions ultimately rest with the US Treasury Department.
China will build its first long-term underwater observation platform in resource-rich South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with many south-east Asian countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Which are the world's most vital straits, important to shipping?
India has refuted claims of payment issues hindering crude oil imports from Iran, clarifying that refiners have the flexibility to source oil from various global suppliers. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas addressed reports of a tanker rerouting to China, emphasising standard industry practices and secured oil requirements.
The falling Total Fertility Rate offers India a chance to become the Pandavas -- fewer in number, but each citizen genuinely empowered, educated, and capable of contributing to a civilisation worth building, asserts Amberish K Diwanji.
The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil already in transit to ease soaring global crude prices, making 140 million barrels available to the market.
'China, which had earlier blockaded New Delhi's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group by citing the nuclear non-proliferation law, finds itself in an awkward position and international isolation.' 'India needs to pursue a policy of mediation between China and the Southeast Asian countries for regional security,' says Srikanth Kondapalli.
In a setback for China, an international arbitration court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against it over disputed areas in the South China Sea, a ruling rejected by China as null and void.
A US-sanctioned tanker carrying Iranian crude oil has rerouted mid-voyage from its previously indicated destination of India to China, raising questions about payment issues and the future of India's Iranian oil imports.
A lesson for India is to clearly define objectives beforehand, so that the adversary or other parties do not attempt to mitigate them midway.
'China's basic purpose of taking the Shaksgam Valley was access to the Indian Ocean.'
Donald Trump expressed optimism about securing an agreement with Tehran to prolong a truce and restore transit through a strategic maritime chokepoint within the next week, even as he criticised political opponents and the media for what he described as their tendency to distort outcomes, even in a hypothetical scenario of complete Iranian military surrender.
'After a strategic pause though, Beijing will revive its policy of slowly creeping towards acquiring sovereignty over the South China Sea.'
The B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam airbase flew over South China Sea on late Thursday as part of operations intended to demonstrate the US commitment to freedom of navigation, the US Air Force said in a statement.
India bought 1.87 million barrels of Russian oil per day in May so far, meeting approximately 40 per cent of its oil imports.
The Chinese navy has kicked off 10-day military exercises in the disputed South China Sea amid heightened tensions in the region, especially with the United States.
India is the only significant power that all parties trust, or at least do not distrust, notes former defence secretary Ajay Kumar.
The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands).
In anticipation of a verdict to be delivered by the International Tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday, China has orchestrated a worldwide campaign to defuse its findings.
