NEW DELHI, June 28 (Reuters) - An active duty missile corvette of the Indian Navy is on its way to Vietnam as a gift, the first warship given by India to any country. India and Vietnam have strengthened their ties in recent years, with a special focus on defence, as both countries are concerned over an increasingly assertive China. India has given smaller boats and military equipment to countries like Maldives and Mauritius in the past and a submarine to Myanmar. But the corvette for Vietnam is the first time India has given a warship to a Chinese neighbour with a coast on the South China Sea, where several countries have overlapping territorial claims. The warship was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1991 and has been designed and produced within the country.

---

Persons: INS Kirpan, Gen Phan Van Giang, Li Shangfu, Krishn Kaushik, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Indian Navy, INS, Vietnam's Defence, Chinese Defence, Thomson Locations: DELHI, Vietnam, India, India's, China, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, South China, gifting, Beijing, Hanoi