Why China and Vietnam are shifting from confrontation to calm in South China Sea claims

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son, in Hanoi on March 17.

They co-chaired a meeting on bilateral cooperation.

Photo: Xinhua Despite land reclamation efforts in the fiercely contested South China Sea, an unusual silence has fallen between Beijing and Hanoi over their rival claims.

Observers said this suggested both sides were prioritising pragmatism to keep tensions in check.

In March, months into reports suggesting continued Chinese dredging activities at Antelope Reef in the Paracel Islands, Vietnam broke its silence by lodging a protest with Beijing over what it called “illegal and invalid” foreign activities. “Vietnam resolutely opposes such activities, makes representations and affirms its position on this matter,” Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said in a statement on March 21.

Without mentioning Antelope Reef, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the next day that the “construction” carried out in the Paracels was “aimed at improving the living conditions of the islands’ residents and serving local economic development”.

This approach appears consistent with how maritime disputes between the two have played out over the past few years.

China has so far reacted to Vietnam’s recent island-building activities in the disputed Spratly Islands only with official verbal complaints, rather than stronger actions.

The Spratlys – known as the Nansha Islands in China – are also claimed by Vietnam, as well as the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The restraint contrasts sharply with the fierce exchanges between China and the Philippines over contested South China Sea features, with repeated clashes between their coastguards and naval vessels raising fears of a wider conflict that could pull in the United States, a Philippine treaty ally.

Observers said that while China and Vietnam had not changed their positions on territorial claims, they appeared to be taking a pragmatic approach.

According to Zhu Feng, dean of the school of international studies at Nanjing University, maintaining stability is a priority for Beijing in its South China Sea policy, running in “a very sophisticated parallel” with maintaining its sovereignty in the disputed waters.

The two approaches were “mutually interconnected”, Zhu said.

If China were to push strongly and take military action against Vietnam’s island-building activities in the Spratlys, “then its South China Sea policy would be about assertin

原文链接: 南华早报