TROUBLED WATERS Vietnam Coast Guard photo shows a Chinese ship with air support shooting water cannon at a Vietnamese vessel, right, while a Chinese Coast Guard ship, center, sails alongside in the South China Sea, off Vietnam’s coast on Wednesday. AP/VIETNAM COAST GUARD
HANOI, Vietnam—Chinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea, according to officials and video footage Wednesday, in a dangerous escalation of tensions over waters considered a global flashpoint.
China recently has been harassing Vietnam and Philippine vessels and fishermen in the potentially oil- and gas-rich waters it claims almost entirety—a shaky stance to many international law experts.
But China’s deployment of the oil rig on May 1 and the flotilla of escort ships, some armed, is seen as one of its most provocative steps in a gradual campaign of asserting its sovereignty in the South China Sea. With neither country showing any sign of stepping down, the standoff raises the possibility of more serious clashes.
Drilling rig
Tensions between the communist neighbors have risen sharply since Beijing unilaterally announced last week it would move the deep-water drilling rig into disputed waters—a move the United States has described as “provocative.”
Vietnam deployed 29 patrol vessels after the China Maritime Safety Administration issued the unilateral navigational warning on its website saying it would be drilling in the South China Sea close to the Paracel Islands—which are controlled by China but claimed by Vietnam.
Vietnam said China’s decision was “illegal,” demanded the rig be withdrawn, and dispatched vessels to the area.
Three incidents
Ngo Ngoc Thu, deputy commander of Vietnam’s maritime police, told reporters in Hanoi on Wednesday that Chinese boats had collided with Vietnamese vessels in at least three separate incidents since the May 3 announcement.
A Chinese plane had also flown low over Vietnamese police patrol boats dispatched to the area in a bid to threaten them.
He said the Chinese “actively used water cannon to attack Vietnamese law enforcement vessels.”
“The situation was very tense,” he said, adding that “six Vietnamese fisheries surveillance staff were injured due to broken glass.”
“We broadcast a signal asking the rig to leave the area. We have shown that we are patient and self-restrained in the face of Chinese aggressive acts,” he said, adding that Vietnam had not dispatched military ships to the area—only police and coast guard patrol boats.
Limited patience
“Our patience is limited. If they (China) continue to hit us, we will have to take self-defense measures in return,” he warned.
Vietnam broadcast a video of the alleged ramming incidents.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated Beijing’s position that the rig was in Chinese territory.
“The drilling activity of this rig is within China’s territorial waters. The disruptive activities by the Vietnamese side are in violation of China’s sovereign rights,” she said.
“The drilling activities on the rig are completely legal, and we ask the Vietnamese side to stop their disruptive actions,” she added.
Major change in strategy
China and Vietnam, which fought a brief border war in 1979, have been locked in a longstanding territorial dispute over their contested waters, and frequently trade diplomatic barbs over oil exploration, fishing rights and the Spratly and Paracel Islands.
Vietnam’s authoritarian rulers have also been struggling to control intense domestic criticism of their handling of relations with China.
Some calls have already gone out on dissident websites for an anti-China protest in Hanoi—previous protests have been broken up by police and resulted in arrests.
Vietnam expert Carl Thayer said the decision to move the oil rig into disputed waters was “a major change in China’s strategy,” adding it could be a response to US President Barack Obama’s recent Asia tour.
During the tour Obama asserted US support for allies Japan and the Philippines.
On Tuesday, the United States warned China that the decision to move the deep-sea oil rig into disputed waters in what Vietnam calls the East Sea was a “provocative” step that it was monitoring closely.
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