China irritates its neighbor with a spy ship near the coast

Vietnam has issued a stern reprimand to China after a Chinese government survey ship sailed into waters claimed by the Southeast Asian country.

“Vietnam is very concerned and resolutely opposes this and calls on China to immediately stop the illegal investigation activities of the Haiyang 26 in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf of Vietnam,” Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said when asked about the ship during Thursday’s press briefing.

Maritime law grants claimant states exclusive rights to resources located within their EEZ, which extends 200 nautical miles. [230 miles] of the coastline.

China claims jurisdiction over most of the South China Sea with its dotted map, including the EEZs of Vietnam, the Philippines and several other neighbors. In 2016, an international arbitration tribunal largely sided with the Philippines and rejected China's claims. Beijing maintains the decision was invalid, asserting its historic rights over the region.

“The Vietnamese side has repeatedly communicated with the Chinese side regarding this incident,” Pham said. She called on Beijing not to repeat “similar illegal activities” and to adhere to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. She did not specify the period of the alleged intrusion.

News week contacted the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Embassy in China to request comments in writing.

THE Haiyang 26a Chinese government research vessel equipped with electronics for underwater data collection, usually sails without turning on its automatic identification system (AIS), a Vietnam-based maritime security analyst said, speaking under covered by anonymity. News week.

The UN mandated ships to continuously broadcast their positions via the transponder system to ensure the security of shipments.

As the ship operated “in the dark,” it was difficult to track with open source tools, and its movements in Vietnam’s EEZ had therefore not been confirmed before Pham’s remarks.

“This suggests that the ministry's statement was unsolicited and was not simply a response to a journalist's question,” the analyst added.

The fact that Pham said Hanoi had raised the issue with Beijing on several occasions suggests that the survey vessel was operating in the area for an extended period, the source said. “This indicates that Vietnam views the situation with serious concern.”

Analysts pointed out that Vietnam's rare public reprimands of China came amid a reshuffle within Vietnam's leadership.

Alex Vuving, a professor at the Defense Ministry's Asia-Pacific Security Studies Center, said the Foreign Ministry made the statement on the same day that Lt. Gen. Luong Tam Quang took over as head of the Defense Ministry. powerful Ministry of Public Security, a position vacated by the new Vietnam. President To Lam.

Vuving and the Vietnam-based analyst say the complaint could be a sign that the new leaders will take a tougher tone toward China.

Territorial conflicts have been an intermittent source of friction between neighbors for decades.

In March, Beijing announced it was adding a new baseline in the Gulf of Tonkin, extending China's jurisdictional claims more than 20 miles into international waters. Vietnam condemned the unilateral move, saying it “reserves all legal rights and interests under international law.”

Beijing has tested Hanoi for years by deploying survey and gas exploration vessels under coast guard and “maritime militia” escort into disputed waters, sometimes for weeks at a time.

This led to tense clashes in 2019 after one of these vessels lingered for almost a month near Vanguard Bank, claimed by Vietnam, in the oil- and mineral-rich Spratly Islands archipelago. gas.

Another confrontation took place in 2014 after the Chinese state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation introduced an oil rig into the waters off the disputed Paracel Islands, which China took de facto control of in 1974 after a battle with South Vietnam at the time.