A new report by British think tank Chatham House has revealed that Vietnam is building new islands in the South China Sea. To learn more about why Hanoi is pursuing this strategy in the contested waters, TaiwanPlus spoke to Don McLain Gill, a lecturer at De La Salle University.
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00:00According to a new report by Chatham House, Vietnam is building new islands in the South
00:05China Sea.
00:06Why is Vietnam building these islands?
00:09As we can see, for the past few years, China has been pushing its maritime boundaries into
00:15the Gulf of Tonkin and also has been pursuing a number of policies in the Indochina region
00:21that directly contradict and in fact, provoke the national security interests of Vietnam.
00:29And on top of that, we can see this trend increasing as the years would go on, given
00:35the structural dynamics of Southeast Asia.
00:38So in this regard, we have actually witnessed in 2023 alone, you know, a number of comprehensive
00:46strategic partnerships between Vietnam and partners, such as the United States, such
00:52as Australia, you know, that are often seen to be more aligned to the Western approach.
01:00One of the islands that Vietnam is constructing is near China's military installation in Spratly
01:06Islands.
01:07What does this mean for regional tensions in the South China Sea?
01:11Vietnam has been in fact, diversifying, expanding its approach and of course, the growing levels
01:17of confidence building and interoperability collaboration between Vietnam and the Philippines.
01:21In fact, they had the first ever Coast Guard drill, you know, just a few weeks ago, which
01:27was the first between two Southeast Asian claimant countries, right?
01:31So this goes to show that Vietnam is wary.
01:34Vietnam is aware of the risks of being complacent when it comes to China's behavior.
01:41And especially as we can note in the early 2000s, China also tried to display some sort
01:46of a good neighborhood strategy, you know, to ensure that the regional environment is
01:51conducive for its rise, which would eventually be an assertive rise.
01:55Why hasn't China criticized Vietnam's island construction in the South China Sea yet?
02:00Well, I think the most basic reason would be, of course, the system of governance.
02:06Vietnam and China's political parties share deep and historic fraternal relations.
02:11And they are, of course, quite cautious of completely delegitimizing each other's political
02:16systems, given that there aren't very many socialist communist parties in the world
02:21today and are far less compared to how it was prior to the end of the Cold War.
02:28And also Vietnam's adherence to the Four Nose Principle, for instance, or perhaps its pursuance
02:34of strategic autonomy also sends a more conducive signal for China, if we'd like to argue it
02:43that way.