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 […]
China is adopting very different approaches to disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines in the contested South China Sea, reports Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese. On May 4, Chinese and Vietnamese naval ships engaged in a tense standoff near a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands in the […]
A former Vietnamese official has denounced China’s claim that its dispatch of an oil rig to the East Sea is a ‘normal activity’, citing expert analysts who argue that the move has triggered a new crisis and a soft invasion of the area. In his article, former head of the National Boundary Commission Tran Cong […]
China has dispatched fighter jets to join the group of vessels tasked with guarding oil rig HD 981 illegally planted in Vietnam’s waters, infringing the Southeast Asian country’s sea and airspace sovereignty, Colonel Ngo Ngoc Thu, Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of Vietnam’s Coast Guard, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday. On Saturday […]
The confrontation began on May 2 when the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation placed its deep sea drilling rig HD-981 in disputed waters of the South China Sea. As Vietnam objected, China deployed some 80 ships, including seven military vessels, along with aircraft to support the rig. Hanoi reacted by dispatching 29 ships to […]
Collisions between ships of Vietnam and China following the latter’s installation of a deep water oil rig in the disputed South China Sea mark a dangerous escalation of simmering tensions. Simultaneous to this fracas near the contested Paracel Islands, maritime authorities of the Philippines have arrested Chinese fishermen close to another coveted portion of the […]
The escalating stand-offs between China and Vietnam, and between Beijing and Manila, will push Southeast Asian nations to build up their maritime capabilities, resulting in heightened tensions in the South China Sea, observers say. The nations were also likely to embrace a stronger United States presence in the region to Beijing’s dismay, they said, pointing […]