Vietnam and the South China Sea : Politics, Security and Legality

Vietnam and the South China Sea

Studies of the escalating tensions and competing claims in the South China Sea

overwhelmingly focus on China and its increasingly assertive approach, while the

position of the other claimants is overlooked. This book focuses on the attitude

of Vietnam towards the South China Sea dispute. It examines the position from

a historical perspective, shows how Vietnam’s position is affected by its wish to

maintain good relations with China on a range of issues, and outlines how Vietnam

has occasionally made overtures to both the United States and Japan in order to

bolster its position, and considered the possibility, so far resisted, of taking China

to formal arbitration under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea. The book concludes by assessing the future prospects for Viet￾nam’s position in the dispute.

Do Thanh Hai is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for East Sea Studies, Diplomatic

Academy of Vietnam. He has a PhD from the Australian National University,

where he was a Prime Minister’s Australian Asia Endeavour Awardee.

Routledge Security in Asia Pacifi c Series

Series Editors

Leszek Buszynski

Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the Australian National University

and

William Tow

Australian National University

Security issues have become more prominent in the Asia Pacifi c region because of

the presence of global players, rising great powers, and confi dent middle powers,

which intersect in complicated ways. This series puts forward important new work

on key security issues in the region. It embraces the roles of the major actors, their

defense policies and postures and their security interaction over the key issues of

the region. It includes coverage of the United States, China, Japan, Russia, the

Koreas, as well as the middle powers of ASEAN and South Asia. It also covers

issues relating to environmental and economic security as well as transnational

actors and regional groupings.

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Routledge￾Security-in-Asia-Pacifi c-Series/book-series/SE899

26 India’s Ocean

The story of India’s bid for regional leadership

David Brewster

27 Defence Planning and Uncertainty

Preparing for the next Asia-Pacifi c war

Stephan Frühling

28 The South China Sea Maritime Dispute

Political, legal, and regional perspectives

Edited by Leszek Buszynski and Christopher B. Roberts

29 South Asia’s Nuclear Security

Bhumitra Chakma

30 The New US Strategy towards Asia

Adapting to the American pivot

Edited by William T. Tow and Douglas Stuart

31 Vietnam and the South China Sea

Politics, Security and Legality

Do Thanh Hai

Vietnam and the

South China Sea

Politics, Security and Legality

Do Thanh Hai

First published 2017

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2017 Do Thanh Hai

The right of Do Thanh Hai to be identifi ed as author of this work has been

asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,

Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from

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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation

without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 978-1-138-92997-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-68078-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

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To Dad, Mum, and Trang

Contents

List of fi gures viii

Acknowledgements ix

Abbreviations x

Introduction 1

1 Under the shadow of the Dragon 9

2 Vietnam’s claims in the South China Sea 28

3 Befriending the Dragon, 1986–1995 66

4 ASEANising the South China Sea issue, 1995–2002 95

5 Shaping the regional balance of infl uence, 2003–2007 124

6 Riding on nationalism, 2007–2009 151

7 Internationalising the South China Sea issue, 2009–2011 171

8 Navigating big power politics, 2011–2015 197

Conclusion 219

Bibliography 229

Index 256

Figures

2.1 The claims in the South China Sea 29

2.2 Toan tap Thien nam Chi lo do thu (Handbook of the South’s

Road Map), 1630–1635 30

2.3 A page about Hoang Sa Archipelago in Dai Nam thuc luc Chinh

bien (Chronicle of Greater Vietnam: main chapter), 1847 32

2.4a, 2.4b A petition on Hoang Sa submitted to Emperor

Thieu Tri, 1847 34

2.5 Dai Nam Thong nhat Toan do (complete map of Unifi ed

Dai Nam), 1838 36

2.6 Hoang Sa va Truong Sa in an enlarged portion of Dai Nam

Nhat thong Toan do, 1854–1875 37

2.7 A geographical Imeri Anamitic (Map of the Annam Empire), 1838 38

2.8 The Paracels and Spratlys 39

2.9 Baselines of Vietnam, 1982 53

2.10 Exploration activities in the South China Sea 54

2.11 Map of Trilateral Joint Seismic Survey Area between China,

Philippines and Vietnam, 2005–2008 55

2.12 The delimitation line and joint fi shing zone in the Gulf of

Tonkin, 2004 56

2.13 China’s nine-dash line map attached to its notes verbales of 2009 57

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Leszek Buszynski for his inspirational supervision and men￾torship. He encouraged and guided me through considerable confusion, frustration,

and anxiety during my doctoral research and preparation for this book.

I am also intellectually indebted to many scholars who have inspired and sup￾ported me since my research idea took shape. Among them are Dang Dinh Quy,

Christopher Roberts, Tran Truong Thuy, Carlyle A. Thayer, Nguyen Hong Thao,

Nguyen Vu Tung, Tran Viet Thai, Nguyen Hung Son, Hoang Anh Tuan, and

Nguyen Thi Lan Anh.

A note of thanks is due to Stephan Frühling, Benjamin Schreer, and Ron Huis￾ken, who were my academic advisers at the Strategic and Defense Studies Cen￾tre at the Australian National University, for their valued assistance and critical

feedback.

Many thanks go to Ha Anh Tuan, Le Hong Hiep, Kalman Robertson, Scott

Bentley, Nguyen Binh Duong, and other friends for their willingness to offer a

hand whenever I was in need.

I am very thankful to my parents, Do Hai Van and Ngo Thi Chuc, and my

parents-in-law, Duong Van Ket and Nguyen Thi Dinh, for their unconditional love

and support. I owe my deepest gratitude to my wife, Duong Thu Trang, for her

dedication to and faith in me.

Last but not least, it is important to acknowledge that this study was made pos￾sible with the support of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award, as

provided by the Australian government.

ADMM ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting

AMM ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

APT ASEAN Plus Three

ARF ASEAN Regional Forum

ASEAN Association of the Southeast Asian Nations

BP British Petroleum

CBM Confi dence building measure

CCP Chinese Communist Party

CLCS United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

COC Code of conduct

CPV Communist Party of Vietnam

DOC Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea

DRV Democratic Republic of Vietnam

EAVG East Asia Vision Group

EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone

FDI Foreign direct investment

GDP Gross domestic product

GFC Global fi nancial crisis

ICJ International Court of Justice

MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs

n.m. nautical mile(s)

PLA Chinese People’s Liberation Army

PRC People’s Republic of China

PRG Provisional Revolutionary Government in South Vietnam

ROC Republic of China

RVN Republic of Vietnam

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome

SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

SOM Senior offi cial meeting

SRV Socialist Republic of Vietnam

TAC Treaty of Amity and Cooperation

UN United Nations

Abbreviations

Abbreviations xi

UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization

UNSC United Nations Security Council

US United States

VPA Vietnamese People’s Army

Introduction

This is a book about Vietnam’s maritime posture under the shadow of a rising

Chinese Dragon. It systematically traces continuity and changes in Vietnam’s

approach to the South China Sea – which is referred to as the East Sea (Bien Dong)

in Vietnam – in the post–Cold War period. Vietnam’s evolving maritime interests

and claims are situated in the interplay of a global milieu and national politics

that infl uence the foreign policy decision-making circle in Hanoi. But essentially,

the book is all about Hanoi’s strategic thinking and how it has been played out

in Vietnam’s attempts to defend its offshore interests, deny foreign control of the

sea area critical to its national security, and shape strategic seascape beyond its

shore. The study’s major fi nding is that Beijing’s maritime assertiveness made it

diffi cult for Vietnam to maintain a traditional friendship with China. It is argued

that concerns about China’s attempts to control the South China Sea have driven

Vietnam to increase its national strength and resilience and expand economic and

security relations with other big powers.

The study focuses on Vietnam as a claimant in the South China Sea, one of

the most contested areas in East Asia. Over the last decade, academic and public

inquiry into the South China Sea disputes increased signifi cantly as tensions in the

South China Sea have fl ared up without any signs of abating. Enormous scholarly

efforts had been made over the last fi ve years to identify key determinants of these

developments. However, much of the attention has been naturally focused on a

rising China as the most powerful claimant in the dispute and the potential dis￾rupter of the regional order. Other smaller claimants had been largely overlooked,

or have been studied within the context of China’s policy and big power politics.

This imbalance in the literature has the potential of distorting the cycle of actions

and reactions, which shaped the dynamics of the disputes. Against that backdrop,

this book, which offers the view from a smaller claimant but a key rival to China,

will be an important contribution that helps rebalance the current discourse.

Recent troubles in the South China Sea are no way just tempests in a teapot.

The sea is rich in oil and fi sh. More importantly, it straddles principal maritime

pathways that carry about 30 per cent of global trade and 50 per cent of global oil

tanker shipments. Any confl icts to erupt there would lead to signifi cant fallout on

the global economy. Therefore, anxieties are not just about entitlements to mari￾time resources but also about rules, order, and secure access to this strategic body

2 Introduction

of water, which Robert Kaplan regarded as “the throat of the Western Pacifi c and

Indian oceans” (emphasis added). It is fundamentally the question of Beijing’s

strategic intents, the nature of China’s rise, and implications on the global maritime

order. Will China rise peacefully? How will the United States and other powers

responded to China’s emergence as a global power? Clearly, rapid militarisation

in China has sparked fears and disquiet across the Indo-Pacifi c region. Peace is

still there but the sense of insecurity and uncertainty is prevalent. As Thucydides

gives us some insight, the Peloponnesian War became inevitable because the rise

of Athens set off an alarm in Sparta. John Mearsheimer, a distinguished professor

at the University of Chicago, foretold a decade ago that China’s rise would not be

amicable. In this regard, the South China Sea is seen as a test case for China’s long￾heralded “peaceful development” and a barometer for power contests in the region.

Vietnam is arguably a major player in the balance of power in the South China

Sea and Southeast Asia, not just because of its formidable military strength, but

also its exceptional nationalism and strategic sturdiness. Geoff A. Dyer opines

in The Contest of the Century: The New Era of Competition with China (2014),

“Its combustible politics and deep-seated historical resentment make Vietnam the

country one can most easily imagine fi ghting a war with China.” Vietnamese col￾lective identity originated from common ordeal and patriotic struggle against Chi￾nese invaders. It is a nation of what Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew reckoned

as “the Prussians of the Orient” who will in no way bow to greater powers. In

ancient times, Vietnam, as a nation, survived Chinese domination for a thousand

years and defeated dozens of major invasions from Chinese empires in the next

millennium. In modern times, Vietnam has fought consecutive wars against four

by far stronger powers, namely France, Japan, the United States, and China, to

regain and preserve its independence.

Increased US-China rivalry in the South China Sea not only lifts Vietnam’s

strategic signifi cance but also puts Vietnam in a diffi cult strategic quandary. Ris￾ing China has fl exed its muscles to force other claimants to accept new rules in

the South China Sea and beyond. As China’s immediate neighbour, Vietnam is

unsurprisingly the fi rst to bear the brunt of the growth of Chinese power and runs

the constant risk of being pulled into China’s sphere of infl uence. Strategists

in Washington seem to believe that the fate of the South China Sea is primar￾ily hanging upon Hanoi, as Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s principal contender to

China in the area. If Vietnam acquiesces to China’s claims, other Southeast Asian

claimants would fi nd it harder to resist China’s control of the strategic maritime

gateway. As a result, Washington is courting Hanoi to defend the existing mari￾time order, or the bedrock of the US global leadership. Fearful that Vietnam will

be Finlandized by China, US offi cials and political elites have travelled to Hanoi

more often. They are also considering arming Southeast Asia’s David to help it

resist Asia’s growing Goliath. Whether it wanted to or not, Vietnam gradually

got entangled in strategic competition between China and the United States. The

case of Vietnam therefore presents an interesting case of a middle-sized power’s

response and adaptation to changes in China’s foreign and security posture and

shifts in regional power equation.