India's naval chief has raised the prospect of sending ships into the disputed South China Sea to defend its oil exploration interests off Vietnam - a move certain to rile China.
The comments from Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi on Monday come after days of escalating tensions, including international concerns over new regulations from Hainan authorities to govern the stop-and-search of foreign ships, and also an incident near the Gulf of Tonkin last Friday when two Chinese fishing boats cut cables towed by a Vietnamese oil exploration ship in a block operated by Russia.
While acknowledging that India is not one of the five states with claims in the South China Sea, Joshi said it was prepared to act if necessary to protect the nation's economic and maritime interests.
"When the requirement is there … in situations were our country's interests are involved ...we will be required to go there ," he said.
"Now, are we preparing for it?, Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is yes," he said.
Joshi specifically mentioned the involvement of state-run oil giant Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONCG), which has signed deals with Vietnam to search for oil off its coast.
The exploration ship Binh Minh 02 had been searching in Indian blocks before heading north to a Russian area that was the site of Friday's incident.