South China Sea: UN to mediate in Hanoi and Beijing dispute
Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The UN is attempting to mediate between Hanoi and Beijing, to calm territorial tensions between the two South China Sea nations, particularly in the area surrounding the Paracel Islands. The UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has appealed to both parties to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner and in accordance with international law and norms. Last week, both nations sent a dossier to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, emphasizing their claims and denouncing an "aggressive" attitude in the Asia-Pacific region which has been at the center of a fierce controversy for some time now.
The standoff
between Hanoi and Beijing took a turn for the worse after China's
decision in early May, to build a platform for oil
exploration, the Haiyang Shiyou 981 off the
east coast of Vietnam. A move that has exacerbated nationalism of a large
portion of the Vietnamese population , which has responded with street protests
that have taken a violent drift characterized
by riots and assaults that have led to at least 2 deaths and 140 injured. China's decision to place the first of May last a
platform for oil exploration, the Haiyang Shiyou 981, off the east coast of
Vietnam. In
response, Hanoi promoted nationalist protests, targeted attacks against foreign
companies, burnings and assaults that killed at least two people dead and over
140 injured. The
following days also saw Chinese naval assaults on Vietnamese fishing vessels.
International
policy experts confirm the growing expansionist ambitions of China in the
Asia-Pacific region, with the goal - by 2020 - to monopolize the entire area
and its businesses. The
Communist leaders in Beijing are planning to build an artificial island in the
Fiery Cross Reef, a group of cliffs and land in the area of the Spratly
Islands. China
intends to build a military base for ships and fighter jets, through which it
would dominate the whole area and put the Philippines and Vietnam in a corner. In
1974, the area was the scene of a Chinese military attack on a Hanoi garrison which
left 74 soldiers dead today celebrated as "Vietnamese
heroes".
The islands are
of strategic importance for Beijing to control a trade route worth over 6
billion dollars a year. The
artificial island would be twice as large compared to the U.S. military base at
Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and would result in the project to establish
an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the Eastern sea in the coming years.
According
to Vietnamese activists and nationalists, China has taken advantage of
instability and conflict in the Ukraine, Syria, Iran and North Korea to begin its
project to colonize the seas- through the installation of the oil rig. A
project that stands in stark contrast to the Declaration of Conduct of Parties
in the eastern seas (DOC) and the UN Convention on the Seas (UNCLOS)
Vietnam and the Philippines have been increasingly worried about Beijing's imperialism in the South China and East China seas. The Chinese government claims most of the sea (almost 85 per cent), including sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands, in opposition to Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. In recent months, China has used various political, economic and diplomatic means to hamper non-Chinese vessels from fishing or moving through the disputed waters. For the United States, which backs the claims of Southeast Asia nations, Beijing's so-called 'cow tongue' line is both "illegal" and "irrational". Anyone with a hegemonic sway over the region would have a strategic advantage, in terms of seabed (oil and gas) development, but also in trade since two thirds of the world's maritime trade transit through it.
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