By James R. Holmes
For something that probably never took place, the July encounter between Indian and Chinese naval units in the South China Sea has created a stir. Most recently, King’s College London scholar Harsh Pant, a well-known commentator on Indian diplomatic and military affairs, reviewed the situation in the Japan Times. Journalist Gwynne Dyer wrote about it in the Korea Times. Operating in international waters off the Vietnamese coast (waters claimed by both Hanoi and Beijing), amphibious transport INS Airavat received a radio message from a caller identifying himself as the ‘Chinese Navy.’
The sender informed the Indian vessel that ‘you are entering Chinese waters’—implying, presumably, that the Airavat should withdraw. A correspondent for the Associated Press emailed shortly afterward to inquire whether the incident had really transpired. My response: no. Whoever contacted the Indian ship evidently did so on Channel 16, the international distress frequency monitored by ships plying the world’s seaways.That’s a VHS frequency, meaning line-of-sight communications only. Yet the Airavat’s crew reported seeing no People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships or aircraft. If Indian crewmen sighted no Chinese units, the transmission originated elsewhere.
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