The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mouthpiece Global Times recently raised the issue of Indian Navy warships operating in the South China Sea in an article titled ‘Is South China Sea card useful to New Delhi?’ This was in response to reports in the Indian media that India had ‘stealthily’ deployed a warship in the South China Sea soon after the Galwan clashes on 15 June.

Global Times Editor Hu Xijin, adrift on a sea of hyperbole, provided a shrill preface to the article, asking readers how to interpret these Indian moves….Is New Delhi playing a so-called South China Sea card to pressure China? The views of experts were thereafter laid out as a message to India and it’s Navy. The article makes interesting observations and indicates that CCP is rattled and is cognizant of its soft maritime underbelly.

Global Times contends that the deployment of Indian warships to the South China Sea is unique to the current India-China situation. Nothing could be further from the truth! Indian warships have visited South China Sea and even China on numerous occasions, the most recent being the highly publicized visit of frontline stealth destroyer Kolkata to Qingdao in April 2019. This warship transited through the South China Sea, crossing through the Taiwan Strait en route to Qingdao. The unique nature of the maritime medium permits inclusive utilisation of the global commons, much unlike the restrictive regime illegally being attempted by CCP’s Navy in the South China Sea.

China Rattled By News of Indian Warship Presence in South China Sea