A Chinese survey vessel yesterday extended its activities to an area closer to Vietnam’s coastline, ship tracking data showed, after the US and Australia expressed concern about China’s actions in the disputed waterways.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 vessel first entered Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) early last month where it began a weeks-long seismic survey, triggering a tense standoff between military and coast guard vessels from Vietnam and China.
Yesterday, the Chinese vessel continued to survey Vietnam’s EEZ under escort from at least four ships and was about 102km southeast of Vietnam’s Phu Quy Island and 185km from the beaches of the southern city of Phan Thiet, according to data from Marine Traffic, a Web site that tracks vessel movements.
The group of Chinese vessels was followed by at least two Vietnamese naval vessels, the data showed.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A country’s EEZ typically extends up to 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coastline, an international UN treaty says, adding that the country has sovereign rights to exploit any natural resources within that area.
Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of waters and a busy shipping lane in the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as the East Sea.
China’s unilaterally declared nine-dash line marks a vast, U-shaped expanse of the South China Sea, including large swathes of Vietnam’s continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday expressed their concern about China’s activities.
Earlier in the week, the US said it was deeply concerned about China’s interference in oil and gas activities in waters claimed by Vietnam, and that the deployment of the vessels was “an escalation by Beijing in its efforts to intimidate other claimants out of developing resources in the South China Sea”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽), in response to the US statement, said that Washington was “sowing division and had ulterior motives.”
“The aim is to bring chaos to the situation in the South China Sea and damage regional peace and stability. China is resolutely opposed to this,” Geng told a daily news briefing on Friday.
Meanwhile, the US and 10 Southeast Asian nations are to hold their first-ever joint maritime exercises next month, aimed at preventing “wrongdoing” as Washington and Beijing jostle for influence in the region.
Washington has been the dominant naval power in Southeast Asia and its re-engagement with the area comes as a trade dispute with China threatens to engulf the global economy.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month attended a regional summit with ASEAN in a bid to promote the US administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
China last year held a joint maritime drill with the regional bloc.
The navies of the US and ASEAN are to do the same on Sept. 2, the US embassy in Bangkok announced on Friday, with the exercises to launch from a Thai naval base in Chonburi Province.
The purpose of the five-day drill is to “maintain maritime security, focus on prevention and preempt wrongdoing in the sea,” a US embassy statement said.
The drills are to primarily take place off the coast of Vietnam’s southernmost Ca Mau Province, where the US Navy is to dispatch “suspicious boats” in a mock exercise to help ASEAN’s navies to “search, verify and legally prosecute” the boats.
A Thai Ministry of Defense spokesman yesterday tried to play down the timing of the US-ASEAN drills.
“We held exercises with China, now we are having exercises with the US,” Thai Lieutenant General Kongcheep Tantravanich said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS