The Diplomat

Despite seeking a balance between the superpowers, Vietnam desires more robust security ties with Washington.

By Derek GrossmanJanuary 04, 2021   

As the incoming Biden administration formulates its South China Sea strategy, one regional partner that looms large is Vietnam. Over the last few years, tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea have remained high, impacting fishing and natural resource exploration in disputed waters. While the Biden administration is likely to continue the positive momentum in bilateral ties, it is less clear what specifically Hanoi seeks from Washington to help it effectively deter Beijing.

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Chinese military says American warship left when warned by PLATaiwan and Vietnam called out by the US Navy for requiring notice for ‘innocent passage’

Kinling Lo

Published: 8:30pm, 22 Dec, 2020SCMP

The USS John S. McCain neared the contested Spratly Islands on Tuesday. Photo: US Navy via APThe US Navy sent a destroyer near the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday to “challenge restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan”.The operation came after the United States military warned in a document last week that it would be “more assertive” against Beijing. The document set out objectives for the US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard for 2021.

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DECEMBER 21, 20208:13 AMUPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

By Reuters Staff

2 MIN READ

BEIJING (Reuters) – An aircraft carrier group led by China’s newest carrier, the Shandong, has sailed through the Taiwan Strait on its way to routine drills in the South China Sea, China’s navy said on Monday, after Taiwan mobilised its forces to monitor the trip.

While it is not the first time China’s carriers have passed close to Taiwan, it comes at a time of heightened tension between Taipei and Beijing, which claims the democratically ruled island as its territory.

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The Atlantic

More than most, four men shaped the oft-cited “strategic tensions” over the South China Sea.

The south china sea is the most important body of water for the world economy—through it passes at least one-third of global trade. It is also the most dangerous body of water in the world, the place where the militaries of the United States and China could most easily collide.

Chinese and American warships have just barely averted several incidents there over the past few years, and the Chinese military has warned off U.S. jets flying above. In July, the two nations carried out competing naval exercises in those waters. Given what is called the growing “strategic rivalry” between Washington and Beijing, the specter of an accident that in turn triggers a larger military confrontation preoccupies strategists in both capitals.

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In an address at the 15th East Asia Summit (EAS), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also talked about the Indo-Pacific and noted the growing interest in the region as an integrated and organic maritime space with 10-nation ASEAN at its centre.

All IndiaPress Trust of IndiaUpdated: November 15, 2020 5:30 pm ISTby Taboola

India expressed concern over “actions and incidents” that “erode” trust in the South China Sea.

India on Saturday expressed concern over “actions and incidents” that “erode” trust in the South China Sea, and underlined the importance of adhering to international law, respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty.

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13/10/2020 10:45 GMT+7 tuoitre TTO – Nhật Bản đã đạt được những bước tiến to lớn trong việc trở thành một trong những quốc gia được các nước Đông Nam Á ủng hộ nhiều nhất. Trước Thủ tướng Suga, ông Abe cũng từng chọn thăm các nước Đông Nam Á đầu tiên.

• Các doanh nghiệp Nhật Bản cực kỳ quan tâm tới Việt Nam
• Nhật Bản xem xét nới lỏng quy định cách ly đối với trường hợp nhập cảnh
• Tokyo phản đối tàu Trung Quốc ‘xâm phạm vùng biển’ của Nhật Bản

Báo South China Morning Post (SCMP) ngày 13-10 có bài bình luận cho rằng Nhật Bản đang xem khu vực Đông Nam Á nằm ở “trái tim của chiến lược Ấn Độ Dương – Thái Bình Dương” của nước này. Tháng trước, Nhật Bản ký thỏa thuận trao đổi hậu cần quốc phòng với Ấn Độ và điều này là đáng chú ý. Người ta cho rằng chính sách quốc phòng của Tokyo dường như đang chuyển từ chủ nghĩa hòa bình thụ động sang chủ nghĩa hòa bình đa phương và chủ động. Đọc tiếp trên CVD >>

Illustrative photo: VNA.

The Truth About The South China Sea [*] : A Voice From Vietnam (Part I)

 August 17, 2020 | 09:57 vietnamtimes.org

Increasingly complicated and tense developments related to the South China Sea are attracting international attention. Meanwhile, some information sources are trying to mislead the public in different countries as to the nature of the issue, its causes and actual developments. The Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation (VPDF) would like to introduce the collection of analysis by experts at the VPDF, with the hope of helping international friends and the people of various countries, including China, to have a better understanding of the issue.

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By Vu Ngoc   December 3, 2020 | 06:36 pm GMT+7 vnexpressSatellite photo shows North Island, part of the Paracel Islands in the East Sea, September 2017. Photo by Planet Labs via Reuters.

Vietnam Thursday asked China to stop escalating tensions with actions that exacerbate violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

“All activities on the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) islands without Vietnam’s permission are violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty, international law and hold no juridical value,” Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press meet Thursday.

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Experts say official Chinese documents belie ‘nine-dash line’ as Beijing asserts dominance in South China Sea.

By Ted Regencia16 Jul 2020 Al Jareeza

Having secured an alliance with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during a state visit to Beijing in 2016, Chinese President Xi Jinping underlined it when he visited Manila in 2018, promising a new chapter in the two nations’ diplomatic ties and vowing to turn the disputed South China Sea into “a sea of peace”.

In a published message to Filipinos just before his trip, Xi recalled how, more than 600 years ago, Chinese explorer Zheng He “made multiple visits to the Manila Bay, Visayas and Sulu” areas during his “seven overseas voyages seeking friendship and cooperation”.

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November 25, 2020  |  AMTI Brief

China and Malaysia in Another Staredown Over Offshore Drilling

The China Coast Guard (CCG) and Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) are involved in another standoff over hydrocarbon exploration in the South China Sea. China Coast Guard ship 5402 harassed a drilling rig and its supply ships operating just 44 nautical miles from Malaysia’s Sarawak State on November 19. Malaysia deployed a naval vessel in response, which continues to tail the 5402. The incident seems to have followed two weeks of increasing tensions between the CCG and RMN in the area.

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By Rob Harris and Anthony Galloway November 23, 2020 — 8.00pm Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia’s pursuit of its national interests on the world stage has been wrongly interpreted as siding with the United States over China, declaring his government will not make a “binary choice” between the superpowers. In fresh attempts to thaw the frosty relationship between Canberra and Beijing, Mr Morrison used a speech to a British think tank to declare the most significant geopolitical challenge of the future would be dealing with the complexities of tensions between the world’s largest economic and military powers. PM Scott Morrison: “We are not, and have never been, in the economic containment camp on China.”CREDIT:JOE ARMAO Mr Morrison said it was wrong to describe the strategic competition between Washington and Beijing as a new Cold War, with the world no longer divided into two blocs with their own economic realm. Continue reading on CVD >>

By: Lt.j.g. Samuel Hardgrove, USS Barry, cpf.navy.mil

Posted November 21, 2020

SOUTH CHINA SEA – After conducting its fourth routine transit through the Taiwan Strait this year, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) returned to South China Sea, Nov. 21, to conduct maritime security operations and promote peace and stability in the region.

“A continued presence in the South China Sea is vital in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Cmdr. Chris Gahl, Barry’s commanding officer. “The freedom of all nations to navigate in international waters is critically important. Barry’s transit of the Taiwan Strait yesterday ensured the right and instills the confidence of all nations to trade and communicate in the South China Sea.”

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By Viet Anh   November 21, 2020 | 08:00 am GMT+7U.S. VNExpress

President-elect Joe Biden is likely to mobilize the power of multilateral mechanisms to deal with the South China Sea and other issues involving China, analysts say.

“I expect President-elect Biden will be considerably more hawkish on China than some fear, the entire Democratic Party has shifted in that direction given China’s moves in the South China Sea, Xinjiang, Hong Kong,” Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, told VnExpress International.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a history of working together, but the U.S.-China relationship is much more fractured now than it was when Biden was vice president under Barack Obama. Photo by Reuters/Lintao Zhang.

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