Editorial: 1 Year Later - Reflections on China's Oil Rig 'Sovereignty-Making' in the South China Sea

Vietnam Coast Guard Ship (left) - China Coast Guard ship (right)

By Ankit Panda

What is the long-term significance of China’s decision to move an oil rig into Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in May 2014?

One year ago, China’s state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) moved an exploratory oil rig, Haiyang Shiyou 981 (HD-981), worth an estimated $1 billion, into waters within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. The incident sparked a major bilateral crisis between the two countries—both of whom claim the disputed Paracel Islands. In hindsight, the event marked the start of China’s attempts to change the status quo in the South China Sea by committing its civilian and non-military assets to disputed areas.

The timeline of the HD-981 stand-off was recently featured (PDF) in the U.S. Department of Defense’s 2015 report on China’s military. On May 3, 2014, Hainan province’s Maritime Safety Administration declared that the oil rig would begin drilling operations off the disputed Paracel Islands, ending in August that year. The next day, Vietnam’s government protested the Chinese announcement. China declared a 3 nautical mile security radius around the oil rig, far exceeding the 500 meter safety zone state parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are entitled to under that treaty.

Beginning May 11, Vietnam erupted in anti-China protests. The protests resulted in Chinese businesses being harassed and attacked; several foreign-owned factories were damaged as part of the protests. The Vietnamese media featured incidents off Vietnam’s coast involving Chinese coast guard ships and Vietnamese fishing vessels colliding. China had deployed civilian fishing vessels, coast guard ships, and a limited number of People’s Liberation Army Navy assets to protect the waters around HD-981. On May 26, a Vietnamese fishing boat capsized after colliding with a Chinese fishing boat. Ultimately, China evacuated its citizens from Vietnam after two of its citizens died during the protests.

Read the full story at The Diplomat