UNTIL this month relations between Vietnam and China seemed only to be improving. Business deals were being done and trade was humming. The Communist neighbours were discussing the possibility that they might jointly prospect for oil in the South China Sea, where they have long disagreed over conflicting territorial claims. But the calculus changed abruptly […]
The spilling of blood and burning of factories by anti-Chinese rioters sweeping across Vietnam reinforces Beijing’s message to other countries claiming territory in the South China Sea: resistance is costly and ultimately futile. But a region in which anti-Chinese sentiment grows and where sovereignty disputes disrupt trade and economic growth will burn Beijing as well. Over […]
MANILA – (11:31PM) Several hundred Filipino and Vietnamese protesters united in a march on Friday, demanding that China stop oil drilling in disputed South China Sea waters, as a Filipino lawmaker revealed Hanoi officials were mulling over filing a separate case against China – similar to what Manila filed in 2013 – over their maritime […]
HONG KONG — Territorial disputes between China and Vietnam have triggered deadly anti-China protests in Vietnam this week. Thousands of Vietnamese rioted against an oil rig China placed in waters that Vietnam considers its own. On Friday, protests took place in the Philippines, which is also entangled in territorial disputes with Beijing. China’s move to […]
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 […]