The long-standing friendship established by the previous
generations of Chinese and Vietnamese leadership faces the
possibility of turning sour. Recently, Viet Nam infringed on
China's sovereignty over the Xisha Islands and their surrounding
waters and allowed violent riots against Chinese people and
factories in their country to erupt, bringing injury and death to a
number of Chinese citizens.
The situation in the South China Sea has been peaceful for
decades. Thanks to the collective efforts of China and other
countries whose coastlines touch the South China Sea, a
coordination and communication mechanism has been established to
resolve territorial disputes peacefully. However, the waters have
become troubled in recent years as the United States carries out
its "pivot-to-Asia" strategy. The Philippines were the first to
make an offensive move against China's sovereignty in the South
China Sea, but gained little from the incident aside from becoming
a client state for the U.S. military.
Unlike the Philippines, Viet Nam relies heavily on China for its
economic development. If Viet Nam continues to act provocatively in
the South China Sea, it will find its national reputation deeply
damaged.
Seeing as Viet Nam has set offshore oil and gas development as a
focus for its economy, escalating disputes and an attempt to claim
these resources in the South China Sea would be beneficial to
it.
Viet Nam officially admitted China's sovereignty over the Xisha
Islands until the 1970s. Even earlier, in 1956, it explicitly
agreed with China in 1956 and stated that the Xisha Islands
belonged to the latter. The Chinese Government announced a distance
of 12 nautical miles as its territorial waters in 1958 and
indicated that the breadth of its territorial waters applies to all
Chinese territories including the Xisha Islands. On the 10th day
after China made the announcement, then Vietnamese Premier Pham Van
Dong delivered a diplomatic note to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai
stating that the Vietnamese Government recognized and respected the
announcement on the breadth of territorial waters made by the
Chinese Government. For a long time following, all governmental
documents, textbooks and maps published by Viet Nam identified the
Xisha Islands as Chinese territory.
Against the backdrop of the "pivot-to-Asia" policy of the United
States, Viet Nam might think there is an opportunity to steal the
Xisha Islands. It distorts history and denies facts to try and meet
these ends.
China and Viet Nam have more common interests than differences,
such as promoting economic growth, improving people's livelihood
and maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea. The
anti-China protests in Viet Nam have undoubtedly cast a shadow over
its future foreign-investment opportunities.
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