Vietnam to buy naval vessels from India to patrol disputed South China Sea

In a first overt gesture of strengthening defence ties with Vietnam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that New Delhi will be selling “new naval vessels” to Vietnam under the recently-announced $100 million Line of Credit.

Modi and Tan held bilateral talks during the latter’s third visit to India as the PM. This is the first significant military hardware supply between India and Vietnam, ever since the South China Sea issue came to the fore.

“We will quickly operationalise the $100 million Line of Credit that will enable Vietnam (to) acquire new naval vessels from India,” Modi said, with Tan standing beside him, after the talks at Hyderabad House.

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