China maintains pressure on Vietnam at Vanguard Bank
- Beijing keen to establish its rights to sea’s rich resources before completion of a code of conduct for the disputed waters, observer says
- Presence of world’s largest coastguard vessel no coincidence if dispute escalates to ships ramming one another
China’s deployment of coastguard vessels and survey ships at Vanguard Bank is intended to prevent Vietnam from advancing its interests in the region before a deal is reached on a code of conduct for the South China Sea, an observer has said.
Hu Bo, director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, said that as negotiations on the code continued, the parties involved were taking “radical” steps to advance their claims to the oil and gas reserves in the area so as to establish a status quo for when a deal is reached, which Beijing hopes will be by 2021.
“China’s purpose [of sending the Haiyang Dizhi 8] was to prevent Vietnam’s unilateral development of the hydrocarbon resource,” he said.
He was referring to the Chinese ship that entered the oil and gas-rich area – accompanied by a number of coastguard vessels – on July 3 to conduct seismic research. The manoeuvre sparked a response from Vietnam, which sent its own vessels to the scene.
Ryan Martinson, an assistant professor at the US Naval War College in Newport, in the US state of Rhode Island, said in a tweet on Thursday that according to the latest tracking data, the Haiyang Dizhi 8 (Marine Geology 8) was still operating near the Vanguard Reef, which is controlled by Vietnam but claimed by China.
Beijing has used its coastguard vessels extensively in the disputed South and East China seas as a way to boost its sovereignty claims without having to involve its military.