India Enhances Its Ties with Vietnam

India and Vietnam signed several deals to strengthen economic and defense ties Oct. 28 during Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's two-day visit. Closer cooperation between New Delhi and Hanoi could cause concern for Beijing; India has been gaining influence in the South China Sea to counter China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean, and Vietnam has been looking for help in its increasingly acrimonious territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea. However, India and Vietnam have other economic, political and military reasons to seek a closer relationship.