Tuesday, May 13, 2014

China It's Showing It's 'Big Stick' Against It's Neighbors

A Chinese ship used water cannons to attack a Vietnamese vessel. Photo: VGP

China Abandons Small-Stick Diplomacy? -- James R. Holmes, The Diplomat

The latest scrap between Vietnam and China in the South China Sea saw Chinese naval vessels deployed.

So seagoing forces from Vietnam and China scrapped this week in the Paracel Islands. China’s state-run oil and gas firm CNOOC positioned an oil rig in waters claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi, prompting Vietnam’s leadership to send ships. No shots have been fired, thankfully. Ramming and dousing one another with water cannon have been the tactics of choice. How the contest will unfold remains to be seen.

China has controlled the Paracels for forty years now, since a mixed force of naval units and fishing vessels pummeled a South Vietnamese flotilla in the waning days of the Vietnam War. And, of course, it claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the islands and adjoining seas. It has rebuffed pleas to mediate or adjudicate maritime territorial disputes in the China seas. Hence the visceral reaction the rig elicited in Vietnam.

Read more ....

My Comment: It appears that China is now focusing on it's more weaker neighbors when it comes to enforcing it's border claims. Case in point .... Vietnam. Vietnam has few international allies .... and it does not have the means or resources to face down China in the South China Sea. From the Chinese perspective .... Vietnam is ripe for the picking. The question that now needs to be asked is .... after Vietnam .... who will China focus on next?

WNU Editor: Below are two must-read commentaries on China's maritime-border strategy against Vietnam.

China-Vietnam standoff at sea: What's at stake -- Minxin Pei, CNN/Forbes
Why Did China Set Up an Oil Rig Within Vietnamese Waters? -- Ankit Panda, The Diplomat

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