Vietnamese anger toward China is running at its highest level in years after Beijing deployed an oil rig in disputed waters. That is posing a tricky question for Vietnam’s leaders: To what extent should they allow public protests that could morph into those against their own authoritarian rule?
At one level, the ruling Communist Party would like to harness the anger on the street to amplify its own indignation against China and garner international sympathy as naval ships from both countries engage in a tense standoff near the rig off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Taiwan.
However, Vietnam’s government instinctively distrusts public gatherings of any sort, much less ones that risk posing a threat to public order. They also know that members of the country’s dissident movement are firmly embedded inside the anti-China one, and have used the issue to mobilize support in the past.
Photo: Reuters
The two Asian nations have a history of conflict going back 1,000 years and the streets of Vietnam’s cities are named after heroes in those fights.
In the more recent past, the navies have twice had deadly engagements in the South China Sea. There was a brief, but bloody border war in 1979. All have a created a deep well of mistrust toward China among ordinary Vietnamese.
Yet the two countries share a Communist ideology and close economic ties, making the China-Vietnam relationship a highly sensitive topic. The latest round of tension — the worst since 1988, when 64 Vietnamese sailors were killed in a clash with the Chinese navy — had led to fresh and awkward questions over that relationship, a normally taboo topic in the state-controlled media.
“It’s time for the Communist Party of Vietnam to reconsider all its policy toward Beijing… Vietnam should immediately abandon Beijing as an economic and a political model,” Huy Duc, one of Vietnam’s best-known bloggers, wrote in a recent post. “Hopefully, the drilling rig 981 incident will awaken the Communist Party of Vietnam to be on the side of the people and drive out the Beijing expansionists.”
The first test for the government looks set to be this weekend. A statement widely circulated on Facebook and dissident blogs called for protests this morning in Hanoi outside the Chinese Embassy and a Chinese cultural center in Ho Chi Minh City. In past years, authorities have only allowed anti-China demonstrators to walk around a lake in downtown Hanoi.
“Facing the danger of Chinese aggression appropriating the sacred East Sea, the source of livelihood of the Vietnamese over generations, we are determined not to compromise,” according to a statement posted alongside the protest call that used the Vietnamese term for the South China Sea.
“We cannot continue to compromise and be vile and sinful to our heroic ancestors and feel ashamed before our future generations,” it said.
The last time there was a flare-up in the South China Sea in 2011, anti-Chinese protests lasted weeks and some protesters voiced slogans against the government. Authorities used force to break them up.
“The state is in a truly difficult position,” said Jonathon London, an expert on Vietnam at Hong Kong’s City University. “By expressing its stern objections to China, it also invites expressions of dissent from Vietnamese that can take multiple forms. Certainly there is some overlap between those who want to express their anger at China and those who are calling for basic reforms.”
Vietnam’s first response to the rig’s deployment close to the Paracel Islands was to send ships to try and stop the rig from starting drilling, and demand Beijing withdraw. Each side accuses the other of ramming their boats. China has said it is staying put and called on Vietnam to pull back its ships.
Vietnam now finds itself pleading its case internationally, but without any kind of solid alliance with a powerful country that that might make China listen more carefully. It cannot afford to do anything that would severely rupture ties with Beijing because it is the country’s largest trading partner.
However, that argument does not wash with everyone.
“You can’t use the importance of the relationship as an excuse not to do anything,” said Nguyen Quang A, a respected academic who has been a frequent attendee of anti-China protests in the past. “I think what they did with sending the coast guard vessels was OK, but they have to be much stronger on the diplomatic and legal field.”
China has announced that the rig will stay in the area until August, meaning tensions are likely to remain until then.
Experts say the incident might push Vietnam closer to the Philippines, which also is engaged in territorial disputes with China, or toward the US, which wants closer ties with Vietnam as part of its efforts to counter Chinese influence in Asia.
Last year, the Philippines filed a case against the Chinese claim at a UN tribunal, to the displeasure of Beijing. Many analysts believe that Vietnam will now be seriously considering filing its own appeal or joining Manila, opening a diplomatic and legal front against Beijing.
“That’s the one arrow left in their quiver other than shooting,” said David Brown, a former US diplomat and Vietnam observer.
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
‘DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY’: The melting of thousands of glaciers is a major threat to people in the landlocked region that already suffers from a water shortage Near a wooden hut high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, scientist Gulbara Omorova walked to a pile of gray rocks, reminiscing how the same spot was a glacier just a few years ago. At an altitude of 4,000m, the 35-year-old researcher is surrounded by the giant peaks of the towering Tian Shan range that also stretches into China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The area is home to thousands of glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate in Central Asia, already hard-hit by climate change. A glaciologist, Omarova is recording that process — worried about the future. She hiked six hours to get to
The number of people in Japan aged 100 or older has hit a record high of more than 95,000, almost 90 percent of whom are women, government data showed yesterday. The figures further highlight the slow-burning demographic crisis gripping the world’s fourth-biggest economy as its population ages and shrinks. As of Sept. 1, Japan had 95,119 centenarians, up 2,980 year-on-year, with 83,958 of them women and 11,161 men, the Japanese Ministry of Health said in a statement. On Sunday, separate government data showed that the number of over-65s has hit a record high of 36.25 million, accounting for 29.3 percent of
RSS