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South China Sea: Taiwan’s live-fire drills irked Vietnam. Was Beijing the real target?
- Taiwan’s recent military exercises near Taiping Island, which Vietnam claims, were ‘illegal’ and a ‘serious’ territorial violation, Hanoi fumed
- But observers say the drills were aimed more at Beijing, as Taipei fears its far-flung islands could be easy pickings for mainland China’s military
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Vietnam was quick to voice its displeasure this month at Taiwanese military drills near a South China Sea island that both claim, but analysts say the incident speaks more to Taipei’s anxiety for its outlying islands’ continued security than the state of its relations with Hanoi.
Taiwan’s live-fire exercises on November 29 near Taiping Island, which Hanoi claims as Ba Binh, were “illegal” and amounted to “a serious violation of Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty over the archipelago”, a foreign ministry spokeswoman told reporters on December 2. Later that day, Taipei responded with a foreign ministry statement of its own calling its claim to the island – located more than 1,500km southwest of Taiwan and about 600km southeast of Vietnam – “unquestionable” and Hanoi’s comments “unacceptable”.
From Hanoi’s point of view, the heated exchange was merely “a matter of principle”, said Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow and Vietnam studies programme coordinator at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. A similar denunciation would have been issued against the activities of any rival claimant “be it [mainland] China, Taiwan, Malaysia or even the Philippines, which is considered Vietnam’s de facto ally in the South China Sea dispute”, he said.
Earlier this year, Vietnam and the Philippines both hit out at reports Taiwan planned to extend the 1,150-metre runway on Taiping by a further 350 metres so it could accommodate F-16 fighter jets and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft. Beijing likewise slammed Taipei after the reports emerged in April, accusing it of “playing with fire” and “colluding with external forces in betraying the interests of the Chinese nation”.
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Le said the latest live-fire incident was unlikely to raise the temperature much in the South China Sea as “from Hanoi’s perspective, Taiwan does not constitute a major threat to Vietnam’s national security” due to its limited presence and “much less assertive posture” compared to mainland China.
It would be a different story if Beijing and Taipei were to coordinate their South China Sea activities to threaten or challenge Vietnam’s position in the Spratlys, he said, noting however that “such scenarios seem far-fetched” given heightened cross-strait tensions and “Taiwan’s need to win regional support”.
A ‘potentially high-value target’
The largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands, Taiping’s Chinese name is derived from the warship that sailed there in 1946 after the end of World War II. Internationally it’s also known as Itu Aba.
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