The South China Sea is the source of a multitude of disputes between its surrounding countries: Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam, Origin’s focus in this term’s issue. Tensions surrounding the sovereignty of islands, oil exploration, and fishing rights (to name some of the issues) has led to disagreement, and often conflict, of which Vietnam has been a frequent target. The area is immensely significant as one-third of the world's maritime shipping passes through it, with $3.37 trillion total trade passing in 2016, and is host to large potential oil and natural gas reserves, estimated at 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, making competition inevitable, and it is clear why so many nations want access to these waters.
Vietnam lays claim to the Spratly and Paracel Islands through their alleged occupation since the 17th century, but their sovereignty is challenged by China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei, all of whom (excluding Brunei) occupy some of the maritime features. China and Taiwan both declare ownership over almost the entire area, within what is known as the ‘nine-dash line’, a vague, undefined and highly controversial demarcation line as it lacks historical and legal support. Just one example of aggression transpires on the 2nd May 2014, when China established an oil rig near the Paracel Islands, violating Vietnam’s territorial claims. This resulted in a clash which repeated some months later, leaving seventeen Vietnamese injured and damaging ships on both sides. The ‘nine-dash-line’ has caused further conflict surrounding fishing in what Vietnam calls its exclusive economic zone in ‘the East Sea’ which has been home to Vietnamese fishermen for centuries. The obstruction and harassment of Vietnamese wooden fishing boats by China’s much larger steel boats, threaten what the Vietnamese say is a core resource on which at least 1.4 million of its 96 million population depend for their livelihoods.
However, China is not the only threat; Indonesian campaigns against foreign fishermen resulted in the destruction of 23 fishing boats from Malaysia and Vietnam on 5 April 2016 and the death of a Vietnamese fisherman in late 2016, leading to protests in Vietnam. As well as fishing vessels suffering from Indonesian authorities, Indonesian pirates pose yet another challenge. Attacks and hijackings are common and also carried out by Filipino and Moro (an ethnic group in the Philippines) pirates in response to Vietnam is increasing military spending on the navy.
Vietnam’s use of diplomatic protest and public statements are weak; with China’s increase in activity in recent years and Vietnam’s cancelation of several oil and gas development projects as evidence, a change in response needs to be developed if Vietnam is to become a serious contender.
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