There was a time when Calcutta, which is what it was called then, knew former Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, by the fact that his name graced the road where the US Consulate was located. It was a little nose-thumbing of the Americans by communist Bengalis, who also feted the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap spectacularly on his two visits to the city.
Vietnam is repaying the compliment, touching the Bengali heart through its love for fish. In a year or two, the famous Vietnamese Pangasius fish will grace Bengali plates. In a rare gesture, Vietnam will be setting up a fish breeding centre in Chennai, so Bengalis can add another freshwater fish to their repertoire.
The Vietnamese love their Pangasius a freshwater catfish high in protein and low in fat and jealously guard its production. A variant of the Basa, the Pangasius has been picking up fans at dining tables halfway across the world. It took a Bengali scientist from government to convince Vietnam to set up a production centre in India.
Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party, arrives on Tuesday on a visit that India is giving a great deal of importance to. Vietnam occupies a significant spot in the geopolitics of Asia, and is currently the object of affection by China, the US, and even India. Vietnam has played a very smart game of hedging its bets and keeping all its friends happy.
In 2011, when the Vietnamese president Truong Tan Sang, was visiting India, the general secretary was in Beijing on an invitation from Hu Jintao. Decades after the US took a bloody nose and left Vietnam, they are back as one of Hanoi’s new partners. When India wanted to abandon oil block 128 off Vietnam in the South China Sea last year because there’s really no oil there, Hanoi asked New Delhi to stay back until 2014. This was at a time when China was flexing its muscles over Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea.
In 2013, Tata Power bagged a $1.8-billion contract to develop two 660mw thermal power plants in south Vietnam beating competition from South Korean and Russian companies. But Tata Steel had to withdraw from a $5-billion investment for a steel plant in Vietnam because the government preferred to give it to Formosa Steel, a Taiwanese company, believed to be close to the Chinese leadership, particularly ex-President Jiang Zemin.
However, India is pushing both economics and defence and security as Hanoi and New Delhi upgrade their bilateral relationship. India has embarked on a big training programme for their defence forces, ramping up exchange of visits by Service chiefs. Vietnam has emerged as a key partner for India in Asia, so much so that New Delhi will be setting up a second satellite tracking centre there the first is in Indonesia in this part of the world.
2013 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.