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Vietnam vs China in the Paracel Islands, SCS; updates, discussions
Topic Started: Jun 25 2012, 06:56 PM (3,401 Views)
MSantor
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Related:

Reuters via Yahoo News

Quote:
 
As China row smolders, Vietnam rethinks its business plans
Reuters – 5 hours ago

By Nguyen Phuong Linh

(...SNIPPED)

"No one buys Chinese products anymore," said Le Thang Loi, who runs a shop in Hanoi selling household goods. "I've switched over to sell Vietnamese and Thai things since last month."

Vietnam's testy but economically vital ties with its fellow communist neighbor have soured since early May, when Beijing moved a $1 billion oil rig unannounced into a stretch of the South China Sea that Hanoi claims is its exclusive economic zone. It prompted protests that degenerated into riots targeting Chinese factories in an unprecedented outpouring of anger.

The rig was moved on July 16, but the wounds are festering.
The row has not only deepened mistrust of China, but increased awareness in Vietnam that its $171 billion economy is exposed, and at risk of being held hostage by Beijing at any time.

Over-dependency on trade with China will be hotly debated within the politburo of Vietnam's secretive Communist Party, experts say. Last week, 61 party members urged the Central Committee to take legal action against China and "escape" its grip, in a letter leaked from its usually discreet internal channels.

(...EDITED)

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." - Henry Ford

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
- Winston Churchill


"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking"- Gen. George S. Patton
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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

China to build lighthouses on five isles in defiance of U.S. call
Reuters - 9 hours ago


BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to build lighthouses on five islands in the South China Sea, state media reported on Thursday, in defiance of calls from the United States and the Philippines for a freeze on such activity to ease tension over rival claims.

At least two of the islands upon which China said it will put up lighthouses appear to be in waters also claimed by Vietnam.

The state-run China News Service said Chinese authorities had been surveying sites for lighthouses on five islands, known in English as North Reef, Antelope Reef, Drummond Island, South Sand and Pyramid Rock.

The survey began on July 27, and "as of Aug. 4 construction sites and alternative locations for lighthouses on the five islands and reefs had been initially decided upon", the news service said, quoting a Chinese navigation official.

Drummond Island and Pyramid Rock are in the China-controlled Paracel Islands.

It was not clear whether the other three islets where lighthouses will be built are also in disputed waters.


Yahoo / Reuters

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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

Not to be confused with The Spratly Islands.



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Edited by Hong Nam, Aug 8 2014, 06:01 PM.

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Hong Nam
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Bought by China


China defends lighthouse building in South China Sea
Sites for 5 new lighthouses to be constructed in the Paracels have been chosen, the state-run China Daily newspaper reports, citing China's Navigation Guarantee Center of the South China Sea.

Agence France-Presse
Aug 09, 2014


BEIJING, China - China has defended the building of lighthouses on islands in the South China Sea, calling them its "inherent territory" amid tensions with Vietnam and other nations that also claim parts of the region.

"China has long been building and maintaining lighthouses and other navigational aids on islands. What China has done is beyond any reproach since it provides necessary measures to safeguard the navigational safety of vessels passing by and serves the public good in conformity with the requirement of relevant international rules."

- Hua Chunying, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

She reiterated China's position that the Xisha and Nansha islands, known in English respectively as the Paracels and the Spratlys and which lie in the South China Sea, "are inherent territory of China."

Sites for 5 new lighthouses to be constructed in the Paracels have been chosen, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported Friday, citing China's Navigation Guarantee Center of the South China Sea.

The report said that lighthouse construction experts were dispatched to carry out research at the five sites.



Rappler


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Hong Nam
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Bought by China


China slams Vietnam's decision to arm fisheries agency's vessels

Ridzwan Rahmat, Singapore - IHS Jane's Navy International
07 August 2014



Chinese government-backed news agency ECNS has lashed out at reports of plans by the Vietnamese government to arm its fishery patrol vessels as "breaking international conventions".

Vietnamese state-run newspapers reported in early August 2014 that the government has passed legislation, dubbed Decree No. 76, on 29 July authorising the use of handguns, machine guns, explosives, and supporting devices on board Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries vessels.

Plans are said to be underway to equip all directorate vessels with 14.5 mm machine guns by 15 September.

The light arms are said to be a measure to ensure the safety of Vietnam's fishermen and their vessels at sea, an oblique reference to skirmishes between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels earlier in the year in maritime territorial disputes.

In June 2014 IHS Jane's reported that Vietnam's highest legislative body, the National Assembly, had agreed to more funds to boost the country's maritime surveillance and defence capabilities, including the acquisition of assets for the Vietnamese Coast Guard (Canh Sat Bien Vietnam - CSBV) and the Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries. Funding for the vessels' weapons are likely to come from this fund.


IHS Jane's 360


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Ayoshi
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Related News from: [IHS Jane's 360] - 29 August 2014

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Airbus Defence and Space imagery shows land reclamation, harbour modifications and other ongoing construction at Yongxing Dao, also known as Woody Island: part of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. (CNES 2014, Distribution Airbus DS/Spot Image/IHS)
Quote:
 
Satellite imagery shows that since October 2013 China has undertaken substantial land reclamation, harbour redevelopment and other infrastructure construction on the island, which is known as Yongxing Dao by China and Phu Lam Island by Vietnam.

China has occupied Woody Island since capturing it from South Vietnam in the January 1974 Battle of the Paracel Islands. Since then, it has established a military garrison, coastal defensive positions, the runway, four large aircraft hangars, communications facilities, and a municipal headquarters. Vietnam claims the Paracels, as does Taiwan.

Previous satellite imagery analysis by IHS Jane's shows that between 2005 and 2011 authorities constructed a new harbour on the west side of the island; since October 2013 a breakwater immediately south of that harbour has been removed and more dredging work has been carried out.

The land reclamation is occurring at two areas in particular: at either end of the island's 2,400 m-long runway, and to fill in the gap between Woody Island and the causeway to Shi Dao (Rocky Island): a small outcrop that is believed to house a secure communications facility.

Edited by Ayoshi, Aug 30 2014, 09:30 PM.
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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

China and Vietnam trying to mend fences....
Quote:
 
Hanoi's deeds matter more than words
Source:Global Times
Published: 2014-8-27


Vietnam's Communist Party Politburo's Le Hong Anh arrived in Beijing Tuesday for a two-day visit, as a special envoy of the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong. Several analysts hold that Anh's China trip is aimed at easing the tensions between the two countries. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said on Monday that Vietnam regrets the damage to foreign-invested companies and the deaths and injuries of Chinese workers in the riots during May and that it has made compensation to affected companies and intends to provide more.

However, Vietnam is not a country that always walks the talk, so we have to wait to see its deeds.

Both China and Vietnam have advantages in this simmering row. Beijing has a strategic edge and a powerful resolve, while Hanoi has a geographical advantage as it is located nearer to the South China Sea.

Furthermore, China's policy must remain consistent with its global strategic interests.


Global Times




What's going to come out from this?

Here is my bold prediction: Nada, zilch, niets and nothing




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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

Vietnam's China Challenge: Making Asymmetric Deterrence Work
With its new Kilo-class subs, Vietnam will implement an asymmetric area denial strategy against China.

By Ankit Panda
September 09, 2014



As events this year have shown, the Vietnamese government won’t suffer any buyer’s remorse regarding its decision to invest in six Russian Kilo-class submarines in a 2009 deal worth $2.6 billion. The government’s decision to both purchase these submarines and incorporate them strategically into a burgeoning asymmetric anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy were vindicated over the course of the dramatic saga earlier this year involving China moving its oil rig HYSY-981 into Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). As far as Vietnam is concerned, international law, ASEAN, and even the naval might of the United States will do little to safeguard its territorial claims - it must move to deter Chinese irredentism by itself. Through its investments, Vietnam demonstrates an unwillingness to acquiesce to the age-old Thucydidean dictum that the “strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

Vietnam’s Kilos could significantly alter the current balance between China and Vietnam. Where earlier this year we saw Chinese and Vietnamese coast guard ships ramming one another off the Vietnamese coast, the presence of Vietnamese submarines would have largely deterred a Chinese incursion into Vietnam’s claimed exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the first place. Beijing knows this. It is pursuing anti-submarine warfare (ASW) as a priority, but continues to face challenges. For Beijing, the primary concern when it comes to naval scenarios has been defending against an adversary with advanced surface ships and submarines - the United States and Japan. This is something that its own investments in A2/AD systems will likely ensure. However, as a largely non-expeditionary force, the PLAN remains rather ill-equipped to stage an offensive against an opponent employing a submarine-enforced area denial strategy.

For Vietnam, a country with a substantially smaller and ill-equipped navy compared to China, this asymmetric area denial strategy is really the only good way to counter Beijing’s attempts at enforcing its territorial claims in disputed waters. Given events earlier this year, the Vietnamese are wasting little time in operationalizing the first of their Kilos.

So far, Vietnam has been careful to emphasize that its submarine acquisition is purely defensive and intended to retaliate against any hostile maritime incursion.

If Hanoi successfully implements its asymmetric area denial strategy with the use of its new submarines, it is likely that Beijing may focus on enforcing its territorial claims against the Philippines, where the barriers to doing so are substantially lower. The Philippine navy largely lacks submarine capabilities and modern surface ships.


The Diplomat






Edited by Hong Nam, Sep 9 2014, 05:36 PM.

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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

Chinese patriotism fuels cruises to disputed isles

By Peng Peng and Jack Chang (Associated Press)
September 30, 2014


ABOARD THE COCONUT PRINCESS - Zhang Jing watched the gray shells of the Paracel Islands emerge from the purple, pre-dawn South China Sea. Here was the focal point of a cruise more about politics than pleasure.

Cheers erupted on board at the sight of the distant land, and Zhang and the other passengers scurried to take pictures of each other at the railing holding China's bright red flag. A few miles away, a Chinese navy frigate cruised by silently, part of the country's continuing watch over the tiny islands it has long claimed as part of its territory.

With the Tangshan resident and 167 other Chinese tourists on board, the ship had traveled more than 200 miles south of Hainan Island off China's southern coast to what they said was an indisputable outpost of their country.

Each had waited months for permission to join the five-day tour, and spent from $1,200 to about $2,000 to visit these barren patches of sand, making do with the bland cabbage and noodles on board and blackouts of cellphone service.

Other than the passing navy frigate and a few sailors hitching a ride on the Coconut Princess, the tour group saw few signs of territorial tensions.

At dawn on the second day, the ship anchored a few miles off the coast of what the Chinese call Quanfu Island. Later, motorized inflatable boats took the visitors to three different islands where they snorkeled, swam and posed for pictures with their ever-present flags.


Philstar



Edited by Hong Nam, Sep 30 2014, 07:02 PM.

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Hong Nam
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Bought by China

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The Coconut Princess

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- The most luxurious has its own bathroom and living room for a price of 9,800 yuan (US$1,600).
- First-class and premium cabins cost between 6,100-7,800 yuan (US$990-$1,300).
- Second and Third-class cabins, for which prices ranged from 5,650 to 9,050 yuan (US$920-$1,500) - these cabins share public bathrooms.




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Holland America Line's - MS Zuiderdam

2015 Eleven (11) day Mediterranean cruise: Barcelona - St Tropez - Monte Carlo - Corsica - Livorno - Palermo - Naples - Rome
for US$1600.


** Someone's getting ripped off. :lollol:

Edited by Hong Nam, Sep 30 2014, 07:18 PM.

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