NEW DELHI -- Even though India is not a party to territorial disputes in the South China Sea, it has vital commercial and strategic stakes that keep its interest alive in the troubled waters.
Soon after an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that China's claims to historical rights in the South China Sea have no legal basis, India said the countries involved in the row should resolve their disputes through peaceful means "without threat or use of force" and show "utmost respect" to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which establishes the global legal order of the seas and oceans.
