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 guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey conducted a patrol within 20 kilometres of Mischeef Reef, part of the Spratly Islands.
The US said it has strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea.
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).
US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Sunday said five years ago on September 25, 2015 the Chinese President, standing in the White House Rose Garden, promised 'China does not intend to pursue militarisation' of the Spratly Islands, and China's outposts 'would not target or impact any country'.
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.
China which rejected the verdict initiated by the Philippines petition has stepped up air and naval patrols to assert its controls over the region.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
India and Vietnam on Tuesday decided to ramp up their defence and security ties that will see supply of four naval patrol vessels to Hanoi and increased training of its military personnel, a month after India extended USD 100 million Line of Credit for defence procurement.
Harris, in a major foreign policy speech as part of her three-day visit to Singapore, said America's vision includes the freedom of navigation which is vital to all.
An international tribunal in the Hague has ruled in favour of the Philippines.
China on Wednesday said the US' naval and air incursions in the artificial islands in the South China Sea will be counter-productive leading to "miscalculation" and "crisis", as Beijing summoned the American ambassador to protest the US Navy's sailing of a warship into the disputed waters.
The statement came a day after Indian Army launched "punitive fire assaults" on Pakistani positions across LoC.
The decision to go ahead with the mission is certain to anger China, which said last month it would "never allow any country" to violate its territorial waters and airspace around the islands, the Washington Post reported.
'Even if there is no full-scale war, Galwan-like skirmishes cannot be ruled out.'
'After a strategic pause though, Beijing will revive its policy of slowly creeping towards acquiring sovereignty over the South China Sea.'
'The Chinese are only about 160-170 km behind.' 'It will not take much time for them to bring their troops back, considering that they have better infrastructure -- and the weather is now favourable.' 'They can move in much faster as the terrain favours them.'
'It doesn't look as if any sensible, worldly wise, person is in charge in China.' 'If at all anybody is in charge, it can only be a bunch of bumpkins of whom Xi has become a puppet,' observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
No such decision has been taken either in the Indian Ocean or South China Sea.
Since 55 per cent of Indian trade passes through the South China Sea, and with over $5 billion investments in the energy sector in Vietnam, it is imperative India actively pursues its national interests in the region, says Srikanth Kondapalli.
China will prioritise the development of a floating nuclear power platform in the coming five years.
Who better than India's beloved storyteller to teach you how to spin a yarn?
The National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest is in full swing, with some of the best entries across the nature category being shared with the public.
'The worst case scenario is for China to behave like a bull in China shop, and brazenly and wantonly indulge in further encroachments, create obstacles to free navigation and convert SCS into an Air Defence Identification Zone.'
