Tension ratcheting higher between China and Vietnam over territorial dispute

Tensions between China and Vietnam over a territorial dispute remained high yesterday as officials from the two Asian neighbours traded strong statements about the standoff in the South China Sea.

Relations have become tense in the resource-rich South China Sea after a Chinese state-owned oil company placed a giant oil rig in an area also claimed by Vietnam. Each country has accused the other of ramming its ships near the disputed Paracel Islands, which China seized with gunboats during the China-Vietnam War in 1974.

China’s ongoing claims to vast areas of water and mostly uninhabited islets in the South China Sea and East China Sea have caused tensions with all of its neighbours, especially Japan.

Tensions are ratcheting higher as China’s Asian neighbours resist Chinese moves to assert control over the resources of disputed maritime areas, seeking closer ties with the US and demanding a code of conduct to avoid conflicts over seas that are rich in oil and gas.

Vietnam’s prime minister issued a rebuke to Beijing for starting the dispute.

Speaking at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) at a summit, prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam had acted with “utmost restraint” and used all means of dialogue to ask China remove the rig.

He said China was slandering his country and committing dangerous violations, although the 10-nation Asean group did not criticise China in a communique issued at the end of the summit.

China’s foreign ministry responded, saying Vietnam’s efforts to garner support over the dispute was doomed to fail.

“The facts prove that Vietnam is trying to rope in other parties and put pressure on China, [but] will not achieve its aims,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

“We hope that Vietnam can see the situation clearly, calmly face up to reality, and stop harassing the Chinese operations,” she said.

She also tried to play down the tensions, saying China and Asean “have the ability and determination to jointly maintain regional peace and stability”.

China last week blamed the United States for stoking tension in the South China Sea by encouraging countries to engage in dangerous behaviour.

US secretary of state John Kerry met his counterpart from Asean member Singapore in Washington on Monday and in a statement before their talks, reiterated US concerns about what he called China’s “challenge to the Paracel Islands”.

Thousands of Vietnamese have rallied in the country’s biggest cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to denounce China, while resort hotels and bars in Vietnam have banned Chinese customers as the protests widened.

China’s relations with the Philippines have also become strained in recent weeks due to tensions over the disputed Spratly Islands. Last week, the Philippines seized a Chinese fishing boat and its crew off Half Moon Shoal in the Spratlys. The incident occurred while Philippine and US forces were conducting joint exercises. – (Additional reporting by Reuters)