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| Vietnamese fishing boats |
21/06/2011
Vietnam cannot help put an end to the Preah Vihear Temple dispute if Thailand and Cambodia do not want it. [KI-Media: A warning to Hun Xen?]
VietNamNet Bridge – “History shows that it is a mistake to expect the strong’s goodness. It is the biggest mistake, which is not allowed to make, in defending national sovereignty. There is no way than saving ourselves by our own”, Dr. Giap Van Duong wrote.
Divided ASEAN
While tension in the East Sea is escalating, the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) – the major forum which is expected to help solve the East Sea disputes in peaceful manner – is facing many burning issues that can cause inner disunity.
The recent two incidents – Binh Minh 02 and Viking II – have stirred up tension in the East Sea. During this time, Thailand and Cambodia were busy with bringing the Preah Vihear Temple dispute to the international court.
Not long ago, Laos’ plan to build the Xayaburi hydro-power dam on the major flow of the Mekong River, with investment from Thailand, caused deep worries of experts and people in the reason for its possible harms to the water resources, the environment and ecological system of the Mekong River.
ASEAN is now divided in many significant issues that directly influence the development, stability and security in Southeast Asia, particularly the East Sea disputes, which is anticipated to become further complicated and a hot spot of the region and the world.
The East Sea disputes occur between China and some member countries of ASEAN, including Vietnam. For that reason, ASEAN is considered a regional forum for solving the disputes peacefully. However, Myanmar – a member of ASEAN – shows its support for China in the East Sea disputes, while some other countries only released general statements because they do not have direct interests in the East Sea.
ASEAN’s unity is being challenged seriously. The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, signed in 2002 between China and ASEAN, is not very effective. Meanwhile, China, with superior potential in terms of economics and military, is increasing comprehensive pressure in disputes through sending its fishery administration and patrol ships to harass the waters of ASEAN member countries, and using check diplomacy and military assistance in relations with the ASEAN member countries that do not directly involve in the East Sea disputes to control and divide ASEAN.
Save ourselves
What should Vietnam do in this situation? Expecting kindness from China, which makes tensions in the East Sea by claiming up to 80 percent of the East Sea, or saving itself before it becomes too late?
The history shows that it is a mistake to expect the strong’s goodness. It is the biggest mistake, which is not allowed to make, in defending national sovereignty. There is no way than saving ourselves by our own.
But how? There is no way to build up our strength and draw friends, allies and those having the same interests and concerns to our side.
How to build up our strength? There is no way to make unity among the people and win the people’s trust. To make that, leaders have to be good examples, to have firm stuff, great hearts and talents and more importantly, they must place the national interests and the people above all. Because people, on any age, always look at their leaders to behave.
The people must be respected and protected, must be listened to and informed of every important development of the country and they will not be afraid of any sacrifice to defend the country.
In the legal war, research works of the East Sea, which are published on international magazines and newspapers, will be decisive factors. The government, therefore, needs to encourage and assist universities and institutes to conduct research works on the East Sea, to develop the contingent of scientists who research the East Sea in various fields to build legal foundation for solving disputes in the East Sea.
How to draw friends and allies? For ASEAN, due to difference in religion, culture and political institution, member states cannot reach agreements in everything. Vietnam cannot help put an end to the Preah Vihear Temple dispute if Thailand and Cambodia do not want it. Vietnam cannot make decisions for Laos in canceling the Xayaburi project. The most possible thread to link ASEAN countries is the prospect to build a region of security, prosperity and sharing common interests through cooperation.
For the East Sea, the common interest is peace, free navigation and ensuring legal interests of nations under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Among five countries involving in the East Sea disputes with China, four are ASEAN members – Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia (including Brunei if the U-shaped line is mentioned).
China’s plot to occupy the entire East Sea, showing through the U-shaped line in its map which was submitted to the UN on May 7 2009, threatens the legal interests of the above five countries. This is one of significant factors to unite ASEAN countries in the struggling against China’s plot to monopolize the East Sea.
Apart from ASEAN, some countries like the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc. , which have direct interests through free navigation in the East Sea, have good reasons to stand on the side of ASEAN against China’s ambitions.
Vietnam needs to highlight these common interests, not only through the government’s activities but also through people-to-people diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, scientific, educational, sports exchange, etc.
Vietnam, as the country that highly suffers from East Sea disputes as well as the exploration of the Mekong River, needs to be more active in uniting ASEAN, first of all for its direct interests and then for peace and stability for the entire region.
In addition, Vietnam needs to make public information accurately and transparently. For example, related to the incident on May 26 2011, initially Vietnam said that this is not the first time China harassed Vietnam’s oil exploration ships, but then it said that this is the first time. It made observers confused and some questioned why Vietnam had not made public the previous incidents, but this incident? A transparent and consistent information policy is essential in defending Vietnam’s sovereignty and legal interests.
In fact ASEAN is being divided. Vietnam needs to be active in implementing people-to-people diplomatic strategy in parallel with strengthening government diplomacy.
In other words, the Vietnamese government and each Vietnamese need to take initiatives in uniting ASEAN to defend their legal interests and to maintain peace and security in the region.
Dr. Giap Van Duong
(The author thanks Le Vinh Truong, Pham Thu Xuan, Du Van Toan and Nguyen Duc Hung for contributing their ideas to this article)
10 comments:
Ieng Sary demands for a Court explanation as to why it did not summon Hun Xen and Ranaridh to provide testimonials in his case
Fired duck go to China
Hahahaha
Who killed 2 456 756 innocent people khmer?
It is better to do nothing
Than to do what is wrong.
For whatever you do, you do to yourself.
Buddha
Fuck off ah Youn yiekcong ,UNITE in HELL,we are khmers just find the way to stab ah Youn every single minutes if we have some chance so do Laotians so my conclusion ah youn find the mass GRAVE for good. Khmers and Laos are wake up the same time
Ah youn go home!!
Go China, end the pest, Youn
Nansha indisputable territory
By Li Jinming (China Daily)
The South China Sea dispute is heating up again with Vietnam and the Philippines claiming parts of Nansha and Xisha islands as their territory and accusing China of aggression in the resource-rich waters off the islands.
Two incidents in the last century, however, establish China's sovereignty over Xisha and Nansha islands.
In 1909, Zhang Renjun, then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi evicted a Japanese merchant who was illegally occupying part of the Dongsha Islands. After that, he realized the necessity of defending the other islands in the South China Sea and asked navy commander Li Zhun to patrol the waters off the Xisha Islands with three warships.
Li raised the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) on the islands, emphasizing they were part of China's territory. Later, the Chinese navy drew charts and made a plan to exploit the islands.
This fact is accepted internationally. The British Navy's China Sea Pilot, published in 1938, says China lists the islands as its territory.
Then on Sept 29, 1932, China's minister to France wrote to the French foreign ministry saying that France had not protested against China's claim over Xisha Islands in 1909.
International law stipulates that effective occupation is the precondition of owning any island or group of islands. Chinese fishermen from Hainan Island had long been residing on Xisha Islands, and the then Qing navy's action reaffirms the islands belong to China.
Another key historical moment is the return of Taiwan after World War II. The 1943 Cairo Declaration, co-signed by China, the United States and Britain, says Taiwan and its subsidiary islands occupied by Japan should be returned to China. In the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, the three countries reiterated the Cairo Declaration, and China took back Taiwan, as well as Xisha and Nansha islands.
In autumn 1946, China sent a fleet to Xisha and Nansha islands. On Nov 24, two warships reached the main island of the Xisha Islands and the Chinese built a monument there. On Dec 12, two other Chinese warships reached the main island of the Nansha Islands and named it Taiping Island.
According to international law, a country can claim sovereignty over an archipelago if it occupies the main island. Therefore, China's sovereignty over Nansha and Xisha islands is not contestable.
Vietnam intruded upon the Nansha Islands in 1956, when the then South Vietnam government sent marine troops to one of the largest reefs of the Nansha Islands. The South Vietnam government declared Nansha Islands as part of its Phuoc Tuy province in 1973, and granted some foreign-funded companies "permission" to explore the waters for oil.
After reunification in 1975, Vietnam took over the reefs previously controlled by South Vietnam and continued to intrude upon other reefs - at least 29 by now. Besides stationing troops and erecting military bases, Vietnam has also built airports and meteorological stations, and set up other facilities on some large reefs.
Vietnam bases its claim over the Nansha Islands mainly on its so-called historical occupation, control and exploration of the islands. But if that is the case, Vietnam would be contradicting itself because it acknowledged China's sovereignty over the islands from the 1950s to the 1970s.
In 1956, Ung Van Khiem, the vice-foreign minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam), acknowledged that historically the Nansha Islands were a part of Chinese territory when he met with Li Zhimin, China's charge d'affaires in Vietnam. On the same occasion, another high-level Vietnamese official even said that according to Vietnamese sources, China's claim over the islands went back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
In 1958, shortly after China issued a statement on its territorial waters, including the Nansha and Xisha islands, Pham Van Dong, then premier of DRV, said Vietnam respected China's sovereignty statement on its territorial waters. Thus Vietnam has long recognized China's sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.
Some Vietnamese maps published in the 1960s and the 1970s even mark the Nansha Islands as part of Chinese territory. Moreover, a Vietnamese geography textbook published in 1974 depicted the islands in the South China Sea, including Nansha and Xisha islands, as an arch and compared it to a "great wall" at sea safeguarding the Chinese mainland.
As for the Philippines, its interest in the Nansha Islands began shortly after it gained independence in 1946. But it did not clear its stance until 1971 when studies showed the waters could be a storehouse of oil. In 1978, then president Ferdinand Marcos issued an ordinance claiming sovereignty over the Nansha Islands (spread over an area of about 64,976 square nautical miles), and named them the Kalayann Island Group.
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The Philippines bases its claim over the islands on three premises. First, it says the islands are the lifeline of its national security and economy. Second, the Philippines is geographically closest to the islands. And third, it claims that before the Philippines laid claim, the islands did not belong to any country. But the reasons cannot justify the Philippines' sovereignty over the islands.
No country can claim sovereignty over any land or water body which belongs to another country by citing economic and security concerns. No matter how desperate the Philippines is to control the resource-rich waters, it cannot jeopardize China's interests by claiming the islands.
Also, geographical closeness does not necessarily mean the islands belong to the Philippines. Take the Christmas Island for example. Although it is hundreds of nautical miles away from the Australian mainland and less than 200 nautical miles from the Indonesian island of Java, it is still part of Australian territory. So the Philippines cannot claim the Nansha Islands based on geographical closeness.
More importantly, the Nansha Islands were not res nullius before the Philippines' claims. China's sovereignty over the islands was established long ago. And although China's sovereignty over the islands weakened in modern times, it reaffirmed it after the end of World War II, enduring to defend them against intrusions by Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries.
On more than one occasion, Vietnam has acknowledged China's sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, and the Philippines cannot justify its claim. Hence, both countries should acknowledge China's sovereignty and stop distorting history.
The author is a professor at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies, Xiamen University, Fujian province.
(China Daily 06/15/2011
as for cambodia, we claim our beloved koh tral island back from the theif youn because the koh tral island have always belonged to the khmer people for centuries until the viet/youn did their expansion westward into khmer territories, etc, you know! viet/youn took advantage of cambodia's dark ages era to steal from cambodia! and french colonialism finally signed it off to viet/youn despite cambodia legitimate claim to the island way before youn/viet marched southward into former khmer territories. so, it's a whole different history here and has nothing to do with other countries claimed islands or territories, etc away from their mainland, etc, you know! every case is different in historical aspect of thing, really! they say two wrongs don't make it right, so true, really!
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