What’s the difference between an oil rig and a naval base or an aircraft carrier? Very little, politically, in the eyes of China. The waters of the South China Sea have witnessed a growing set of confrontations between Chinese and Vietnamese maritime forces as China deploys its deep-sea oil drilling rig, Haiyang Shiyou 981, to […]
The crews from the Vietnamese and Chinese coast guards shook hands and took photos as they met last month, sharing platters of fruit and raising their glasses for a toast. Now, they are in a tense standoff in the South China Sea. “The two sides were very happy and united,” Lt. Colonel Phan Duy Cuong, […]
BEIJING — Vietnam’s Prime Minister texted millions of citizens late Thursday encouraging them to defend the nation’s sovereignty in a dispute with China over an oil rig that has left at least two Chinese workers dead and injured a 100 more. Nguyen Tan Dung warned against letting “bad elements” engage in violence, but did not […]
At least 21 people were killed as anti-China riots in southern Vietnam escalated and spread to the center of the country on Thursday. A doctor in Ha Tinh province described five of the dead as Vietnamese workers and others as Chinese. He said they were among roughly 100 people sent to his hospital, Reuters reports. […]
Current Sino-Vietnamese tensions are merely the latest in a series of bitter conflicts between the two countries. The last time Hanoi and Beijing pushed each other to the brink, tens of thousands perished. Smoldering nationalist anger in Vietnam exploded into frenzied violence in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City this week as thousands of […]
Accordingly, the Vietnamese government can challenge the Chinese government to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, while the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) can sue the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) – which operates the drilling platform – to a civil court in Vietnam, lawyer Hoang Ngoc Giao, head of […]
Southeast Asian nations look helpless to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea—but it would be misguided to think China isn’t wary of its own political toll, writes Andrew Browne in this week’s China’s World column: Nothing seems to illustrate the impotence of Southeast Asian nations more than their glacial progress toward a […]
BEIJING–A Vietnam-China standoff over an oil rig exemplifies only a part of the interlocking interests–from the resources under its seabed to the trade routes on its surface–that trouble the waters of the South China Sea. The sea is believed to contain significant resources, but disputes over its islands, reefs and atolls–control of which gives the […]
The who, what, where, when and how of China’s HD-981 oil rig foray into Vietnamese waters have been addressed comprehensively, both by commentators here at The Diplomat and elsewhere. The enduring question, as with many of China’s provocative actions in the Asia-Pacific, remains why? The opacity of China’s internal decision-making processes makes it rather difficult to conclusively answer that question, but a good amount […]
BEIJING — It is the pride of China’s state-run oil industry and the nation’s first deepwater drilling rig, a vessel as big as a football field and as tall as a 40-story building, with a $1 billion price tag. Last week, it crawled through the South China Sea, pulled by heavy-duty tugs, and parked in […]