EAST SEA AND THE FOREIGN POLICY OF VIETNAM

Tóm tắt

China's placement of a drilling rig named HD981 into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in East Sea was a serious challenge to Vietnam's sovereignty protection that alerted the international community on regional security and maritime safety. The escalation to a dangerous level of China's territorial dispute with Vietnam will definitely have a significant impact on the strategic mindset and international relations of Vietnam as well as of other countries involved. On the long run, territorial disputes between China and Vietnam and other South East Asian countries will not subside but escalate both in scale and severity. Perhaps, the HD981 oil rig crisis can actually serve as a big wakeup call that would result in the strategy reorientation of Vietnam's foreign policy in the next period.