Nirmala Sitharaman

Freedom of navigation in oceans is governed by rules-based order and no power or group of powers should have the right to change it unilaterally, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today. Sitharam's comments are seen as an oblique reference to China's growing military assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.

China has territorial disputes over the South China sea with several countries of the region, and India along with other nations have been maintaining that freedom of navigation and over flight must be respected in the area. "We belong to a multi-polar world, where we want to make it clear that freedom of navigation can never be unilaterally or arbitrarily questioned by anybody. "And, we are very clear in saying that this is the rules-based order globally, and no one power, or a regional power, or no group of powers or no one, should have the right to unilaterally change this order," she said.