By Shannon Tiezzi
China’s belated response to the oil rig crisis demonstrates the limits of its regional soft power.
A month after China established an oil rig in disputed waters near the Paracel Islands, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has released a document outlining China’s official position on the ensuing crisis. The statement, titled “The Operation of the HYSY 981 Drilling Rig: Vietnam’s Provocation and China’s Position,” is China’s attempt to refute Vietnam’s repeated public statements on the matter. Vietnam has been spreading rumors against China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters. “Under such conditions, we feel it necessary to tell the international community the truth and set straight their understanding on the issue,” she said.
The document begins by noting that the oil rig is located “inside the contiguous zone of China’s Xisha Islands” (the Chinese names for the Paracels). The oil rig has explored one location and is in the process of exploring a second. Both sites, according to the Foreign Ministry document, “are 17 nautical miles from both the Zhongjian Island [Triton island] of China’s Xisha Islands and the baseline of the territorial waters of Xisha Islands, yet approximately 133 to 156 nautical miles away from the coast of the Vietnamese mainland.” The implications are clear: the oil rig drilling zone should be considered Chinese waters, as it is closer to Chinese territory than to Vietnam (Hanoi, of course, disputes Chinese ownership of the Paracels and thus does not accept such an argument).
From there, China’s Foreign Ministry reports in some detail on the Vietnamese response to the oil rig, which Beijing calls “serious infringements upon China’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.” Vietnam is accused to sending “a large number of vessels” to “illegally and forcefully” disrupt the operations of the oil rig. The report also claims that Vietnamese vessels have rammed “Chinese government ships … a total of 1,416 times.” Further, the report accuses Hanoi of having “condoned anti-China demonstrations,” including the deadly riots that caused extensive damage to foreign factories near Ho Chi Minh city. In the face of these provocations, China says it has “exercised great restraint.”
Finally, the document moves on to the most comprehensive outline to date of China’s claims to the Paracel Islands. China says that it “was the first to discover, develop, exploit and exercise jurisdiction over the Xisha Islands,” but does not use that claim as the basis for its modern-day sovereignty. Instead, the document outlines Chinese control during the 20th century, including claims by the Qing dynasty and Republic of China. According to this brief history, China has twice driven “invading armies” out of the Paracels: in 1945, with the Japanese surrender, and in 1974 when China clashed with South Vietnamese forces.
Read the full story at The Diplomat