TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Chinese and Vietnamese coastguard vessels have been involved in a week-long confrontation over a reef in the South China Sea, according to a media report which said the development could cause the biggest clash between the two neighbours in five years.
Six heavily armed coastguards vessels – two Chinese and four Vietnamese – have been eyeing each other in patrols around the Vanguard Bank in the Spratly group of islands since last week. About a dozen vessels were reported in the vicinity.
On Wednesday last week, Chinese survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 entered waters near the Vietnamese-controlled reef to conduct a seismic survey, Ryan Martinson, an assistant professor at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, said in a tweet on Friday, citing ship tracking data.
Its escorts included the 12,000-tonne armed coastguard vessel 3901, complete with helicopter, and the 2,200-tonne coastguard ship 37111. The standoff came despite a pledge in May by Chinese and Vietnamese defence ministers to settle maritime disputes by negotiation. According to the report, the standoff may trigger a wave of anti-China sentiment in Vietnam not seen since 2014, when a Chinese oil rig arrived off the disputed Paracel Islands.
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