Updated June 19, 2014 09:57:00
China has accused Vietnam of ‘hyping up’ a territorial dispute in the first official talks since Beijing unilaterally placed a billion dollar oil rig just south of the disputed Paracel Islands. Vietnam claims the islands and the ocean around them as its own and is accusing China of breaching its sovereignty and breaking the International Law of the Sea. Our South-East Asia correspondent, Samantha Hawley, was embedded with the Vietnamese Coast Guard on the South China Sea for five days and she filed this report for AM.
Samantha Hawley
Source: AM | Duration: 3min 13sec
Topics: world-politics, vietnam, china
Transcript
CHRIS UHLMANN: China and Vietnam have begun official talks about their bitter territorial dispute in the South China Sea. But a resolution between the two communist nations looks a long way off after relations broke down when a billion dollar Chinese oil rig began drilling off the Paracel Islands
Vietnam claims the islands and is accusing China of breaching its sovereignty and breaking the International Law of the Sea and China says Vietnam is “hyping up” the dispute.
Our South East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley was embedded with the Vietnamese Coast Guard on the South China Sea for five days and she filed this report for AM.
(Sound of a fog horn)
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It’s a long difficult journey to some of the most contested waters in the world – to an ocean where a dangerous game of brinkmanship is underway.
For five days I’m embedded with the Vietnamese Coast Guard including on one of the fleets most prestigious ships, CG-8003. It’s stationed in viewing distance of the billion dollar Chinese oil rig placed about 30 metres south of the Paracel islands in May.
(Sound of coast guard speaking on loud speaker)
A furious Vietnam says the islands and the ocean around them belong to it.
(Sound of coast guard speaking on loud speaker)
8003 patrols the waters adjacent to the rig – twice a day it ventures closer.
(Sound of coast guard speaking on loud speaker)
With a loud speaker blaring, it demands China leave its waters.
VIETNAMESE COAST GUARD ON LOUD SPEAKER: Your activities in this maritime area seriously breach Vietnam’s sovereignty.
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But it can get no closer than eight nautical miles, about 14 kilometres, before China’s Coast Guard surrounds the ship and begins a dangerous chase.
The captain of ship 8003 is Nguyen Van Hung.
(Sound of Nguyen Van Hung speaking)
“It’s our duty to approach the Chinese oil rig to request China to withdraw,” he tells me, “but when we get closer China uses 17 boats including high speed ships to prevent us. They chase us and threaten Vietnamese vessels.”
“This boat hasn’t been hit,” the Captain tells me, “but several time they got closer than 30 metres.”
Other boats have been hit, according to the Vietnamese, but China says it’s the victim, that its boats been rammed more than a thousand times.
The crew on board 8003 have been at sea for 40 days. They see the task at hand as their patriotic duty.
(Sound of Vietnamese sailors singing)
And while the weapons on board are covered for now, there’s every possibility of either a miscalculation or a deliberate escalation from either side.
After witnessing the tensions first hand, it’s clear Vietnam’s neighbour has all the power. Hanoi is on a PR offensive as it works to get the world on its side.
An up-close observation of the tensions provides an appreciation of a maritime dispute which the most powerful nation is winning – and it’s not Vietnam.
This is Samantha Hawley reporting for AM from the South China Sea.
