Analysis: South China Sea dispute pits power-hungry China against weaker regional neighbours

Australian Broadcasting Network (Jun 21): Analysis: South China Sea dispute pits power-hungry China against weaker regional neighbours

The dispute over the South China Sea pits China against its smaller, weaker regional neighbours.

 

Vietnam is one of them, and right now there is a concerning flash point that could have deep, significant implications for the region.

Around Vietnam you find propaganda billboards denouncing China's actions after it built a billion-dollar oil rig about 200 nautical miles off the Vietnamese coast.

It is condemnation that spilled out onto the streets in the most significant protests seen in the one-party state for many years.

Chinese nationals were forced to flee the country as their businesses were burned to the ground. Beijing says at least four of its nationals were killed.

The oil rig sits about 30 kilometres south of the Paracel Islands, which China says it has irrefutable sovereignty over, along with the Spratly Islands to south.

Vietnam says the islands and the seas around them belong to it, and so the two communist nations are now in the depths of the most serious deterioration of relations since the 1970s.

Vietnam is accusing China of bullying tactics as it tries to force its ships out of the area; China says its smaller neighbour is taunting it, and Beijing has warned its tolerance is low.

In one case Vietnam says a fishing boat was sunk after being rammed by the Chinese.

Beijing rejects the allegation, and accuses Vietnam of sabotage.

China says its boats have been rammed by Vietnam more than 1,000 times and has now gone to the United Nations to try to have the case heard.

Vietnam says there are almost 120 Chinese ships stationed around the oil rig, including warships, but says it will not send military assets to the disputed seas.

It does not want to provoke unwanted hostility from Beijing.

Is China's stance more a show of strength than oil drilling exercise?

There is a question mark over whether China is actually drilling for oil, or even if there is oil below the sea bed, or whether this is much more about military positioning and a show of strength.

Vietnam has the support of the Philippines, which has its own territorial dispute with China.

Troops from the two nations recently gathered on one of the contested islands to play a game of volleyball, a move condemned by China.

Beijing says Vietnam has been forcibly and illegally disrupting operations on the rig.

Several other countries have territorial claims over the waters, including Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

China claims to have sovereignty over more than 90 per cent of the resource-rich ocean.

Taking a journey close to the Chinese oil rig, you see first-hand the very real tensions at sea.

According to the Vietnamese, just 10 of its coast guard boats are now stationed in the area. One of them is the Coast Guard ship 8003.

With about 40 crew on board, it has been patrolling waters adjacent to the oil rig since May.

Twice a day it ventures closer to within eight nautical miles of the rig and via loudspeaker warns China it is breaching Vietnamese sovereignty and breaking international law and orders them to leave.

In turn, the Chinese chase the ships out of the area, in what looks like a bullfight at sea.

An up-close observation of the tensions provides an appreciation of a maritime power play where the most powerful nation is winning. And it's not Vietnam.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-19/samantha-hawley-analysis-south-china-sea-dispute/5534252