In many ways, the American label of ‘great wall of sand’ that was applied to the artificial islands in the South China Sea encapsulates a key element of Chinese thinking. The same desire to protect China from external threats that produced the terrestrial Great Wall has been extended into the South China Sea.
Vietnam has urged all sides involved in South China Sea disputes to discharge their legal duties and contribute to maritime security.
BEIJING (Reuters) China called on Vietnam on Friday not to “complicate” the South China Sea issue, after a senior official in Vietnam said it could explore legal action, among various options, in its territorial dispute with China over the waters.
As China consolidates its hold in South China Sea and wields its military, economic and diplomatic leverage, smaller countries see no credible option but to work with Beijing, even if that means furthering Chinese objectives. Manila, for example, seems willing to accede to Beijing’s demand for joint development of hydrocarbon resources in the Philippines’ own exclusive economic zone.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is welcomed at Haneda International Airport, Tokyo, on Sunday.
Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa archipelagos has been studied with great concern by scholars at home and abroad after China's occupation by force of the Hoàng Sa archipelago in 1974 under the management of the government of the Republic of Vietnam. This topic has been an ever-stronger attraction since May 2014 when China placed its HD 981 oil rig deep inside Vietnam's continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.
The paper will elaborate on three procedural and preliminary questions that negotiators of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) will encounter in time to come: (i) the nature of COC; (ii) COC as a negotiation between ASEAN and China or a negotiation among 11 countries; and (iii) the relationship between the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea in 2002 and COC to be signed in the near future.
With the sponsorship and support from the Chinese Government, scholars will continue to diligently sought after and manipulate historical evidence in the name of science. However, if Chinese persists in their mistakes, they would face confusions and obstructions; and the more they try to explain history, the more likely they would meet dead end.
China's frigate Huangshan is seen anchored in the waters off RSS Singapura Changi Naval Base, May 15, 2017, in Singapore.
China and Vietnam vowed on Sunday (Apr 1) to keep the peace in the South China Sea, the resource-rich waterway that has long been a source of tension between Hanoi and its powerhouse communist neighbour.
Security experts have urged the Philippines to explore a common visiting forces agreement (VFA) with Japan and Australia or a trilateral deal among the three countries to counter China’s aggression and its continuing expansion in the South China Sea.
