Vietnam accuses Chinese ships of ramping up South China Sea tensions
- Hanoi says Beijing’s survey and coastguard vessels are widening their activities in disputed, energy-rich waters
Vietnam accused a Chinese oil-surveying vessel and coastguard escorts of territorial violations by widening their activities after entering the country’s exclusive economic zone and operating within offshore blocks for three months.
At least two China Coast Guard ships further south meanwhile have in recent days manoeuvred around a Singaporean-flagged support vessel in an oil block operated by Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil, the data shows.
“The Chinese survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 and its escort vessels continue, and expand their operations within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, thus seriously violating Vietnam’s sovereign rights,” Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in Hanoi on Thursday.
Vietnam demands Chinese oil exploration ship immediately leave its waters in South China Sea
Vietnam, which shares a long border with its fellow communist country, stands virtually alone in the region as it pushes back against Beijing amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea, a region containing unexploited hydrocarbons that the US says could be worth US$2.5 trillion.
Tensions between China and Vietnam have been on the rise since July, when the Chinese state-owned surveyor first began studying the seabed of the southern block in the disputed South China Sea operated by Rosneft.
China has repeatedly warned Vietnam to abandon exploration projects with foreign companies that it says threaten China’s sovereignty.
Vietnam’s foreign minister warns of escalation in the South China Sea in thinly veiled warning to China
Vietnam has become increasingly isolated in its efforts to push back against China, which is nearing a deal with the Philippines for joint energy exploration in a contested area of the sea and just set up one-on-one talks with Malaysia to settle disputes in the waters.
“Once again, Vietnam demands that China immediately cease its serious violations, withdraw all of its vessels from Vietnam’s maritime zones and desist from repeating similar violations,” Hang said.
