The sharing of intelligence on the developments in the South China Sea is important among like-minded nations to deter China's grey zone operations—or activities short of being called as war—in the waters, a ranking official of the Indian navy said Tuesday, Sep. 12.

Commodore Debesh Lahiri of the Indian National Maritime Foundation made the pronouncement on Tuesday, but added that it was "not enough" as "trust" was also important in intelligence sharing.

"And the very fact that we have begun this journey indicates the level of trust that is already there between the two countries," he said at a forum organized by Stratbase ADRi on Tuesday.

Lahiri's pronouncement came as India joined this year several other nations in backing the Philippines' territorial sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, a part of the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that is connected to the bigger South China Sea.

New Delhi also signed recently with Manila an agreement to ensure safe and secure seas by facilitating greater collaboration in areas, such as joint patrol, information exchange, capacity building, and training.

Lahiri said intelligence to be shared must also be "actionable."

"After you discern what is actionable intelligence, it is more important that you pass it in time to the country concerned," he said.

"Because whether you have to take preventive action or punitive action, unless you get actionable intelligence on time, you are just too late," he added.

Don McLain Gill, the director for South and Southeast Asia, Philippines-Middle East Studies Association, said the intelligence sharing that the Philippines and India have entered into is "crucial" against China's grey zone operations.

That is "because China's recent activities are done countries when are isolated," he said.

Citing a study from a research group RAND, the Philippines is one of the victims of grey zone activities in 2023. This, as China is "trying to slowly gain strategically territorial through means that fall short of war."

"We need to have property information, best practices, intelligence from trusted partners would be crucial to address this as well," Gill added.

In a recent interview with the media, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran pushed to have more Indian ships coming to Manila.

Lahiri supported that, adding that the Philippines and India could also take "next level" steps, such as joint exercises and the current maritime domain awareness cooperation.

"The most important area, I think, [is] maritime domain awareness, because that is the bedrock of everything that happens in the maritime domain," he said in an interview with reporters on the sideline of the event.

"Once the maritime domain awareness picture is very clear, both countries can really contribute in very meaningful ways and take the necessary steps to prevent any illegal activity from happening at sea," he added.