‘No political angle’: Pranab allays China concerns over oil deal with Vietnam

PetroVietnam has offered seven new oil blocks to India, all of which are in territorial limits of Vietnam, clarified Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was part of the delegation that accompanied the President.

China had Tuesday made it clear that it would “not support” the OVL-PetroVietnam pact to explore two more oil wells if they fall within the disputed waters of South China Sea.

Mukherjee said, “OVL has been exploring in South China Sea since 1988. It is just a commercial action. There should not be any political angularity in looking at it. We have not made any comments about the contentious issue; about the sovereignty of South China Sea because disputes there are between various maritime countries sharing territory in South China Sea. We have always held the idea that these issues are to be resolved peacefully as per international laws, norms and practices. All disputes are to be settled through dialogue in a peaceful mechanism that is without use of force or abuse of force.”

The India-Vietnam joint statement had expressed concerns about impediments in freedom of navigation in the East Sea/South China Sea. India’s support to Vietnam, Mukherjee said, was not a stray relationship, but rooted in India’s history of supporting fights against colonialism in all parts of the world.

Secretary (east) in the MEA, Anil Wadhwa, said the locations of the seven oil blocks have not been disclosed as the sites are yet to be finalised, and not because they are “contentious”.

On his positive comments about Modi government’s economic initiatives, Mukherjee said he had been merely stating facts about the economic growth curve since 2007-08 to present.