India downplays Chinese objections to oil foray in South China

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday played down the recent Chinese objections to New Delhi's oil exploration foray in the South China sea with Vietnamese collaboration saying it was not worried a bit about it.

"We have been exploring (oil in South China sea) since 1988. Originally, British Petroleum used to be there, then they sold it to the Russians. We keep going on there. We are still drilling and would continue to do so," sources said.

Ruling out any diplomatic row, the sources felt that the recent verbal duel between India and China on the issue looked like "manufacturing a story" with journalists and officials from both sides indulging in it.

The sources also downplayed the reported incident about an Indian Naval ship ' INS Airavat' being warned by Chinese counterpart in international waters some time back, saying there was a call on an open frequency.

"It is not an incident," the sources said countering a view that it amounted to a diplomatic row between the two countries