Sino-Vietnamese Rapprochement and the South China Sea Irritant

Abstract

On 4 November 2002, China and ASEAN signed a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (ASEAN, 2002). Incidents related to occupation of islands, ‘illegal’ fishing and oil exploration had been major irritants in the relationship between China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam during the 1990s. The declaration on a code of conduct reflects the complexity of the South China Sea dispute: it is a multilateral agreement between one major power and an association of ten states. However, China remains adamant that it will resolve the South China Sea dispute only through bilateral negotiations. For this policy to produce results, bilateral talks with Vietnam will be essential. On 25 December 2000, China and Vietnam signed bilateral agreements on maritime delimitation and fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin, and experts from the two countries also discussed the larger disputes in the South China Sea. However, two years later, the bilateral agreements had still not entered into force and negotiations over supplementary protocols had stalled. This article describes the Sino-Vietnamese rapprochement in the 1990s, analyses the South China Sea ‘irritant’, presents the Gulf of Tonkin agreements and discusses the prospects for a Sino-Vietnamese initiative to resolve the South China Sea dispute.

A Critical Assessment of China’s Role in the South China Sea Dispute

“…In 1988, the second clash happened. The Chinese navy made its first major survey of the Spratlys, avoiding the islands and reefs already occupied by Vietnam in order not to trigger military clashes, but a naval clash was still not unavoidable and 70 Vietnamese sailors lost their lives (Ji, 1998;Tønnesson, 2003). The third conflict was in 1992 when China and an American company Crestone reached an agreement of oil exploitation in the area where overlapping claims of China and Vietnam exist (Buszynski, 1997(Buszynski, -1998.…”

“…The third conflict was in 1992 when China and an American company Crestone reached an agreement of oil exploitation in the area where overlapping claims of China and Vietnam exist (Buszynski, 1997(Buszynski, -1998. Therefore, Vietnam countered the Chinese Crestone concession by awarding a rival concession to Conoco, another American company (Tønnesson, 2003). And lastly, Vietnam protested against China's oil test drilling in 1997 and then China suspended its plan (Ji, 1998).…”

“…The three most important ASEAN claimant counterparts have different position towards China on this issue. The South China Sea issue is a deep-rooted potential threat to the Sino-Vietnamese rapprochement resulted from their common communist ideology and the non-intervention principle from the same fear of the U.S. (Tønnesson, 2003). Vietnam is China's best chance to settle the South China Sea dispute by bilateral talks if that is the only way China sincerely desires (Tønnesson, 2003).…”

“…The South China Sea issue is a deep-rooted potential threat to the Sino-Vietnamese rapprochement resulted from their common communist ideology and the non-intervention principle from the same fear of the U.S. (Tønnesson, 2003). Vietnam is China's best chance to settle the South China Sea dispute by bilateral talks if that is the only way China sincerely desires (Tønnesson, 2003). The Philippines might be the most 'unfriendly' country towards China because of the U.S.-Philippines alliance (Austin, 2003).…”

Implementation of the Sino-Vietnamese Fishery Agreement: Mainly Chinese Perspective

“…55 Professor Tønnesson said that he experienced at first hand the deep resentment felt by Hainanese fishermen towards the Vietnamese government during a visit to Hainan in January 2000, because there have been many incidents in which Hainanese fishermen have been apprehended by the Vietnamese coastguard. 56 Even though the Fishery Agreement was signed in 2000, before it came into force, some scholars still kept a cautious attitude by questioning how effectively the agreement would be implemented. And in practice, conflicts related to fishery between the two countries still happened a lot.…”