Is China Quietly Encroaching on Vietnam in the South China Sea? | Taiwan Talks EP414

***This show was recorded July 16, before the death of Vietnam leader Nguyen Phu Trong, aged 80, and also before Vietnam's application to the United Nations to extend its continental shelf***

Is Beijing escalating South China Sea territorial claims with areas claimed by Vietnam in the same way as with the Philippines, except that Hanoi chooses to keep the incidents off the international radar? At the beginning of July, China appeared to be holding a rare twin carrier exercise in the South China Sea with the Shandong aircraft carrier and at least eight warships, according to satellite imagery. They were also spotted about 50 miles northeast of Woody Island in the Paracels, an archipelago previously held in part by Vietnam until China seized all in a naval battle in 1974. Taiwan also claims the territory. China’s "monster” coast guard ship has several times this year patrolled Vietnam’s oil fields in the Spratlys, most recently in June. And in March, Beijing redrew its coastal baseline in the Gulf of Tonkin between Vietnam and China, a move that breaks with an agreement reached by Hanoi and Beijing in 2000. How is Vietnam handling these moves by China and will it take a stronger stance toward its more powerful neighbor? We also take a look at cooperation between Vietnam and the Philippines and whether the two South China Sea claimants can stand together against Beijing’s increasingly assertive behavior.

Our guests:

Alexander Huang
- Chair, Council on Strategic & Wargaming Studies
- Kuomintang (KMT) international affairs director and representative to the U.S.

Huynh Tam-Sang
- Lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty of International Relations and visiting scholar at National Taiwan University

#GulfOfTonkin #Hanoi #PLA #SCS #ContinentalShelf #EEZ #ExclusiveEconomicZone #UNCLOS #Philippines #CoastGuard #TransparencyInitiative #Manila #BambooDiplomacy #DoiMoi

[devolutioninc]

China tells the Philippines that it wants bilateral talks/agreement and that no third party should interfere.
China tells Vietnam that it wants bilateral talks/agreement and that no third party should interfere.
China tells Brunei that it wants bilateral talks/agreement and that no third party should interfere.
China tells Malaysia that it wants bilateral talks/agreement and that no third party should interfere.

Then China goes and violates these countries and ASEAN can't interfere.

China has just divided and conquered. It rendered the ASEAN a useless political bloc.

[johnfrancisco]

Hey youtube stop deleting my comments it's not against youtube guidelines just for saying
(I support Taiwan Philippines Vietnam Brunei Malaysia
❤❤❤❤

[amunra]

Its so funny because the Republic of China was doing the same to the Vietnamese 10 years ago lol

[shawnwhitter]

Vietnam needs to stand up for itself and not allow China to bully them.

[Flossy-go]

Why the Chinese Gov is such a BULLY?
Respect the others and live in PEACE!

[FF.-tv]

ASIAN COUNTRIES MUST UNITE AGAINST CHINA'S AGGRESSION.

[wyqzhzs]

This really proves that China is not friendly, as they are opposing many small countries, especially Vietnam. If this is the first country they confront, they will surely suffer in the end.😢

[ZEROM]

越南共产党总书记阮富仲在回答这个问题时说：


（总的来说，阮富仲总书记巧妙地提醒胡锦涛总书记, 如果他承认蒋介石，就等于承认台湾不再是中国的一部分）

请加：

- 《1904年皇朝直省地舆全图》 -

[vanchien]

I still don't understand why China has to renew the map every year. How many lines will they need for the sea?

[jiaweike]

People should talk about Le Loi the Vietnamese ruler from Age of empires 2. They battled the Ming dynasty. It's a fun campaign to play and great way to learn about Vietnamese history.

[stevevu]

For those who says he read from script, and it is prewritten/prepared from Vietnam gov: he hasn’t and shouldn’t make official statements for us, the whole nation as he does not the official spokesperson. But he is Vietnamese, so credits for preparing his talking points, also for his journey to further his academic research. I could see that the show wants to bait him (and Vietnam gov) to have harsher stance vocally on China’s aggression on EAST SEA, but it won’t matter what we said. Just like prof Huynh stated, we do NOT want to antagonize China. As for the response approach, I don’t think the Philippines is that assertive, recent escalation with China were results of President Marcos Alonso directives who clearly has some behind-the-scenes agenda backed by you know who. President Duarte was softer and arguably the Philippines also didn’t benefit from his approach. Now you want to ask why Vietnam chose the way we respond? While coast guards from both side quarreling and splashing water against each other, we’re quietly strengthening our defense, fortifying/building up our islands, scoring economic & trade deals, upgrading political partnership but also trying to resolve the issue ourselves. China wants to separate SCS claimants for a reason: to bully each of us easier, but also to test if they really need to project stronger use of forces (because some of us decide to include other parties – you know who). Yeah yeah, we’re destroying marine lives, destroying the sea environment, or we’re so cowardly, never dare to oppose China. Well we did, for thousands of years, and now they respect us, not very much but enough to let things slide once in a while. Our chief just passed, it’s a great loss for us, but we are resilient and self-reliance, so we’ll stand up and carry the legacy of secretary Trong, and the heroic leaders before him. He’s the reason US, China, Russia respects us, his anti-corruption campaign and tight grip are why we’re going somewhere, our voices are heard. You may view us as undemocratic, that our citizens are brainwashed and striped of rights, but here I am, writing on my macbook pro, from my premium youtube account that my parents paid for by their honest money were made under this communist regime. How about that? How about that for an opacity initative? Maybe you could use a little bit of tough love too?

PS: apologize for sounding so defensive and unnecessarily patriotic, I am and a lot of Vietnamese (who truly understand and appreciate our country) are in grieve. I hope Taiwan and Philippines could resolve their issues with China, you guys are more than capable to fight for yourself. Please do so strategically and peacefully, we all need some peace and prosperity in this region.

[miggybluesky]

why not call it "Big coast guard ship" rather than "Monster coast guard ship" because it makes them feel powerful, therefor making them more abusive.

[albertlim]

Also Taiwan claimed Mongolia as a taiwanese territory.

[toptohyekoms]

Nice! Parang tama lang ginagawa ni bongbong?

[tjnguyen]

Professional Huang is honest in his opinions and expressed them in a polite way. I feel bad for Huynh, who walks the fine line, trying not to say the wrong thing that exposes the weakness of Việt leaders. He and his family could be prosecuted if he is saying things that upset Vietnam Communist Party.

[Kkvtran]

If you guys study further, Taiwan actually validate China claims about historical evidence in the South China Sea. It means, not officially, but Taiwan also support China on the occupation of South China Sea islands. This is a very complicated issue, so it's not like which islands are more close to which countries, it's also about historical context claims. However, since 2002 if I remember correctly, these countries has to remain as it is so the situation is pretty much stalemate right now.

[karlweaver]

Always educational and professional! Great

[darshuetube]

Vietnam should be more assertive about its sovereign right

[mng]

The Vietnamese guy has to read what his communist party predefined

[MaiFavouriteSongs]

Come On Taiwan! Keep showing that Freedom is one of the most valuable thing that it's always worth to fight for ! The Vietnamese professor still fear of what he is saying because coming home Jail can wait for him, his attitude is in stark contrast with the two others Taiwanese