Though the ties between India and China are looking very positive especially after the visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to each other’s country the relationship remains complex and India’s stand on South China Sea leads to confusion. India has an unresolved boundary dispute. Last year marked the high point in reciprocal visits besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited China while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited Hong Kong. So far the two sides have held 18 rounds of border talks. But despite the all round progress, it still remains an uneasy relationship due to the unresolved boundary issue. The two sides witnessed a major standoff ahead of Premier Li’s first visit to India in 2013 soon after he took over office followed by another one during Xi’s visit last year raising tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region. India’s involvement in South China Sea is mainly due to economic reasons, to counter China and to maintain good relations with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). India has friendly relations with ASEAN countries and hostile relation with China, citing this, the ASEAN nations have encouraged India to get involved in the South China Sea as they see India as a strong and influential nation that can counter China and can help in peaceful negotiations (especially Singapore and Vietnam). India sees this as an opportunity to develop strong relations with 10 ASEAN nations and Japan (Japan is also very much concerned with the growing Chinese presence in the region as it may threaten their trade) . This will also help India to gain support from other countries in times when China creates a problem for India. But India’s silence on this is more disturbing as around 50 per cent of India’s trade passes through Malacca Strait (part of South China Sea). The South China Sea region is believed to have vast reserves of oil and natural gas which India is also trying to tap in collaboration with Vietnam.
