Abstract
Vietnam has long maintained “no alliance” as a core principle in its foreign policy. However, as China becomes increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, there are indications that Vietnam is moving towards “alliance politics”, or efforts to forge close security and defense ties short of formal, treaty-bound alliances with key partners, to deal with the new situation. This chapter seeks to explain why such a shift is both necessary and feasible for Vietnam. It starts by reviewing Vietnam’s strategic policy toward China since bilateral normalization in 1991, especially its hedging strategy and the so-called “three no’s” principles, and explaining why such a strategic position has become increasingly questionable. The chapter then analyzes why Vietnam should pursue alliance politics to deal with China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and looks into the measures that Vietnam has been undertaking in that direction. The chapter will accordingly analyze Vietnam’s strengthened security and defense ties with the Philippines, Japan and the United States as case studies of Hanoi’s pursuit of alliance politics in the South China Sea.
An earlier version of this chapter was originally published by ISEAS as “Vietnam’s Alliance Politics in the South China Sea”, Trends in Southeast Asia No. 6, 2015.
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Notes
- 1.
For more information and analysis of the Vietnam-China normalization process, especially Hanoi’s internal drivers, see Hiep (2013a).
- 2.
Future defence and strategic dialogue partners may include Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
- 3.
See various interviews with Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh, e.g.: http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xa-hoi/vn-quan-he-voi-my-khong-phai-de-can-bang-suc-manh-tai-bien-dong-2172881.html, http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xa-hoi/viet-nam-khong-chap-nhan-nen-hoa-binh-le-thuoc-2184972.html, and http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xa-hoi/viet-nam-khong-chap-nhan-su-can-du-xam-hai-chu-quyen-2660487.html.
- 4.
Since 1998 Vietnam has released Defence White Papers every 5 or 6 years. The first three were released in 1998, 2004 and 2009, respectively. The fourth one is scheduled for release in 2015.
- 5.
For example, during CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China in 2011, the two sides signed an agreement on fundamental principles guiding the solution of maritime issues between the two countries. Principle number three provides that the two sides adhere to the “principles and spirit” of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) which provides, among other things, that “the Parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability” (ASEAN 2002).
- 6.
Within the first month of the crisis, Vietnamese officials contacted Chinese counterparts at different levels and through various channels more than 30 times to request China’s withdrawal of the rig and initiation of negotiations. All were to no avail (Quyet 2014).
- 7.
The reason China cited for the withdrawal was that the drilling and exploration operation “was smoothly completed on schedule […] with the oil & gas shows found” (China National Oil Corporation 2014). However, according to Thayer (2014a), three other factors also played into China’s decision: safety concerns due to Typhoon Rammasun, US political and diplomatic pressure, and China’s wish to prevent Vietnam from escaping its orbit.
- 8.
Tuan paralleled such an approach to the “three revolutionary currents” theory that CPV Secretary General Le Duan promoted during the Vietnam War. The theory, which posited that international relations after World War II were driven by socialist and national liberation revolutions in the Third World as well as workers’ movements in capitalist countries, helped North Vietnam, as a symbol of socialist and national liberation revolutions, to gain moral and material support from its allies, especially China and the Soviet Union, in its war against America.
- 9.
For example, in 2014, bilateral trade turnover reached US$58.78 billion. By the end of 2013, China also ranked as the seventh largest foreign investor in Vietnam in terms of accumulative registered capital stock (GSO 2014, p. 179).
- 10.
Formerly referred to as BRICS Development Bank.
- 11.
For Vietnam, major examples include the 1988 naval clash at Johnson South Reef and the 2014 oil rig crisis for Vietnam. For the Philippines, China’s grab of the Mischief reef in 1995 and the standoff over the Scarbourough Shoal in 2012 are the most notable cases.
- 12.
Other areas of cooperation include search and rescue, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism, maritime salvage, IT training, military medicine, and peacekeeping.
- 13.
It should be noted there are also two similar but separate Vietnam-US dialogues, one is on political, defence and security issues, and the other is on the Asia-Pacific.
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Hiep, L.H. (2016). Vietnam’s Pursuit of Alliance Politics in the South China Sea. In: Fels, E., Vu, TM. (eds) Power Politics in Asia’s Contested Waters. Global Power Shift. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26152-2_13
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