This Sino-Vietnamese conflict of interest has contributed to heightened tension and war, and to reduced political and economic cooperation. But the strategic advantages that China enjoys over both Vietnam and over extra-regional powers on mainland East Asia have ultimately compelled Hanoi to accommodate Chinese interests.
søndag 18. august 2024
China-Vietnamese Relations in the Era of Rising China: Power, Resistance, and Maritime Conflict
In the twenty-first century, China and Vietnam have experienced heightened tension over their sovereignty disputes over the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and the related disputes over the demarcation of their respective exclusive economic zones (EEZ).1 But, for China, Sino-Vietnamese conflict is more than a dispute over sovereignty and economic rights. It is a struggle between a great power and its smaller neighbor over the great power’s demand for a contiguous sphere of influence—a border region free from the political and strategic influence of another great power. Since 1949, the People’s Republic of China has consistently maintained that Vietnamese leaders reject strategic cooperation with an extra-regional power, including the United States and the Soviet Union. For Vietnam, however, China’s looming presence on its northern border poses an existential threat that drives Vietnam to seek extra-regional great power support for Vietnamese security and foreign policy independence.2
This Sino-Vietnamese conflict of interest has contributed to heightened tension and war, and to reduced political and economic cooperation. But the strategic advantages that China enjoys over both Vietnam and over extra-regional powers on mainland East Asia have ultimately compelled Hanoi to accommodate Chinese interests.
This Sino-Vietnamese conflict of interest has contributed to heightened tension and war, and to reduced political and economic cooperation. But the strategic advantages that China enjoys over both Vietnam and over extra-regional powers on mainland East Asia have ultimately compelled Hanoi to accommodate Chinese interests.
