NEW YORK TIMES: Tensions in the South China Sea escalated sharply on Tuesday as China and Vietnam traded accusations over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the vicinity of a Chinese oil rig parked in disputed waters off Vietnam’s coast…
In the latest incident, a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat about 17 nautical miles southwest of the oil rig on Monday afternoon, the state-run Vietnamese television network, VTV1, reported. All 10 crew members were rescued, the network said…
In a signal of how China, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, now views the South China Sea as a top foreign policy priority, the country’s vice foreign minister said Tuesday that the sea was central to China’s very existence as a global economic power… (more)
EDITOR Although relegated to an inside page, China’s aspiration to control the South China Sea (on which it has no borders!) looms large for Asia and the rest of the world.
The South China Sea is the choke point from the Middle East to Asia. Furthermore, it is thought to contain huge quantities of oil and gas, both of which the Chinese economy considers essential.
We have the irony of the USA and Viet Nam becoming close allies in the area. There has never been much love and there have been a war, more recent that our war with Vietnam.
Our task is to encourage and facilitate cooperation among the other countries bordering the sea to strengthen their alliances and military capabilities in order to avoid Chinese dominance. More on this later.
