China stirs the "9-dash-line" pot with Vietnam, Philippines EEZ drilling -- China Boss update 5.19.23
Update
What happened.
“Chinese and Vietnamese vessels have been involved in a new confrontation in a disputed part of the South China Sea after Hanoi tried to expand oil drilling operations in the area,” South China Morning Post reported last week. The face-off is being tracked by independent security experts and thinktanks as neither of the two governments have “confirmed the encounters,” news staff said.
SCMP:
According to South China Sea Wave, tensions rose on Wednesday, with both sides sending in more vessels to try to expel the other’s boats.
Data from the maritime automatic identification system, which tracks ships, indicated the vessels were tailing each other and trying to cut each other off while keeping a safe distance.
Head of Stanford University’s Project Myoushu Ray Powell told SCMP that Chinese vessels had moved eastward through the Vietnamese oilfield, with one coastguard ship trying to “twice abruptly cut off” a Vietnam coastguard ship.
The confrontation took place in the “Hanoi-controlled Vanguard Bank,” which “sits within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone,” although Beijing claims the area as part of its sovereign territory within the “nine-dash line”, SCMP staff said.
Why it matters.
Extra spicy with the Philippines
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