India’s South China Sea policy has not changed. Now, as before, there’s no appetite to challenge China

Two developments in recent days have given rise to speculation that India’s South China Sea policy could be shifting. First, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Tokyo last week, where the two countries reviewed their security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and reportedly even discussed developments in the South China Sea.In a visit to Vladivostok soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a memorandum of agreement to open a fully fledged maritime route between Russia’s eastern port city and Chennai on India’s eastern seaboard, signalling rising Indian interest in the Western Pacific.