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Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui - Tag - China L'actualité du Viêt Nam 2016-07-28T18:39:21+07:00 Guénin Patrick urn:md5:11602 Dotclear Vietnam Faults as 'Untruthful' China Media Reports on Sea Ruling urn:md5:fb78cb7a45c9b21c07252fe5eddc4b12 2016-07-19T08:27:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaParacelSpratly
Vietnam criticized as "untruthful" Chinese state media reports that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc respected his Communist neighbor's position on last week's landmark South China Sea ruling and was interested in advancing two-way talks on the disputed waterway.

Phuc told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Mongolia last week that he didn't endorse China's stance on the international tribunal's ruling, the Vietnamese government said in a statement late Monday. Phuc reiterated Vietnam's welcoming of the court's decision, which found no legal basis for China's claim to "historic rights" to resources in the area.

Vietnam "declares it refutes untruthful coverage by Chinese media regarding the East Sea issue from the meeting" between Phuc and Li, the government said, using Vietnam's preferred term for the South China Sea.

The Vietnam rebuke comes as China touts what it says are dozens of international backers for its stance on the South China Sea, as it seeks to show at home it has widespread support after the ruling went against it. It highlights the difficulty for China in walking a line between President Xi Jinping's "neighborhood diplomacy" and in continuing its assertions to sovereignty - and its military buildup - in the waterway. The risk now is China receives further public rebuttals. 'Stands Ready'

China's official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday cited Phuc as saying "Vietnam respects China's stance on the arbitration" and that "Vietnam stands ready to push forward the mechanism of bilateral maritime negotiations and properly manage differences with China, so as to contribute to regional peace and stability."

While the ruling resulted from a Philippines challenge, Vietnam has been a critic of China's overlapping claims to more than four-fifths of the South China Sea. The Vietnamese statement follows remarks by other governments criticizing official Chinese sources for misrepresenting their remarks over the South China Sea case.

China's Foreign Ministry said July 9 that Sri Lanka "understands and applauds" China's stance on the waterway, citing a meeting between the countries' foreign ministers in Colombo. But Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview in Singapore on Sunday that use of "applaud" was not correct. "We understood, I think they just corrected to say we understood."

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Activists hold anti-China banners in Hanoi on July 17. Photographer: Nhac Nguyen/AFP via Getty Images Don't Miss Out — Follow Bloomberg On Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

 Country disputes accounts saying premier respects China view China claims nations support its stance on South China Sea

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Vietnam criticized as "untruthful" Chinese state media reports that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc respected his Communist neighbor's position on last week's landmark South China Sea ruling and was interested in advancing two-way talks on the disputed waterway.

Phuc told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Mongolia last week that he didn't endorse China's stance on the international tribunal's ruling, the Vietnamese government said in a statement late Monday. Phuc reiterated Vietnam's welcoming of the court's decision, which found no legal basis for China's claim to "historic rights" to resources in the area.

Vietnam "declares it refutes untruthful coverage by Chinese media regarding the East Sea issue from the meeting" between Phuc and Li, the government said, using Vietnam's preferred term for the South China Sea.

Close all those tabs. Open this email. Get Bloomberg's daily newsletter. The Vietnam rebuke comes as China touts what it says are dozens of international backers for its stance on the South China Sea, as it seeks to show at home it has widespread support after the ruling went against it. It highlights the difficulty for China in walking a line between President Xi Jinping's "neighborhood diplomacy" and in continuing its assertions to sovereignty and its military buildup in the waterway. The risk now is China receives further public rebuttals. 'Stands Ready'

China's official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday cited Phuc as saying "Vietnam respects China's stance on the arbitration" and that "Vietnam stands ready to push forward the mechanism of bilateral maritime negotiations and properly manage differences with China, so as to contribute to regional peace and stability."

While the ruling resulted from a Philippines challenge, Vietnam has been a critic of China's overlapping claims to more than four-fifths of the South China Sea. The Vietnamese statement follows remarks by other governments criticizing official Chinese sources for misrepresenting their remarks over the South China Sea case.

China's Foreign Ministry said July 9 that Sri Lanka "understands and applauds" China's stance on the waterway, citing a meeting between the countries' foreign ministers in Colombo. But Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview in Singapore on Sunday that use of "applaud" was not correct. "We understood, I think they just corrected to say we understood."

Fiji issued a statement in April rejecting another Chinese ministry release asserting support from the tiny South Pacific nation. Cambodia, Poland and Slovenia have also denied Chinese claims of backing, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, a unit of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

India, whose support China also claimed, published a statement on the day of the ruling "urging all parties to show utmost respect" for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The diplomatic dust-ups over language are among several repercussions as the region digests the ruling, which China has rejected as unfair and motivated by U.S. efforts to rally allies against the rising power. China has welcomed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's offer for two-way talks on their sea disputes.

Still, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay rejected Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's position that any bilateral negotiations must disregard the tribunal's ruling. That was "not consistent with our constitution and our national interest," Yasay told the ABS-CBN News Channel.

On Monday, Vietnam called on China to "seriously" implement "agreements and mutual understandings of senior leaders, including the agreement on basic principles guiding settlement of sea issues between Vietnam and China." The countries must "avoid further complicating the situation," it said.

For now China has said it has no plans to tone down its actions in the area. Its air force recently conducted a combat air patrol in the South China Sea, an exercise that will become a "regular" practice in the future, Xinhua reported Monday. China will also conduct military drills off its island of Hainan.

Chheang Vannarith, Phnom Penh-based chairman of the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies and a former government adviser, said Cambodia would probably remain sympathetic to China's position on the sea disputes, but must also take into account the views of the other nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Cambodia in the past has been accused by other nations of responding to lobbying by China to veto the prospect of unified Asean statements being issued on the matter. Asean operates on a consensus basis.

"China must acknowledge this is a disputed area," he said. "We need all to accept this is a disputed area. It's not China, but all of the other claimants have their own unilateral map."

By John Boudreau & Diep Pham & David Tweed - Bloomberg - July 19, 2016
 Chinese tourists generate no profit for Vietnam's Da Nang urn:md5:edf06a2f07cbc790283ab6ffc8336d84 2016-07-17T15:41:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinatourism
Chinese travel firms are willing to offer almost zero-priced packages to Vietnam to their customers at home, as they know how to recoup money immediately tourists begin their trips.

As recently reported by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, the number of Chinese tourists coming to visit such famous Vietnamese destinations as the central city of Da Nang and the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, home to Nha Trang beaches, has increased significantly.

However, the Vietnamese tourism industry does not benefit much as the services provided to those visitors when they are in Vietnam are mostly, if not all, run by Chinese people.

The hotels where the Chinese tourists stay, the dinners where they eat, and they places where they visit are all decided by Chinese tour guides, and what matters is that those services and places are all run by Chinese.

Chinese-run tours cause profit loss to Vietnam

Le Tan Thanh Tung, vice president of Vitours, talked to Tuoi Tre about the issues brought by the Chinese in Da Nang on Friday.

Pointing to a group of Chinese visitors who had arrived at the city's airport, Tung said that the majority of Chinese tourists coming here are on low-cost packages offered by Chinese tour organizers.

They are only guided to a few local attractions, and most of the time are taken to shopping areas, eateries, and souvenir stores which are mostly run by Chinese. These places usually charge the tourists dearly and the payment is only done by cash, causing a huge loss to the tax revenue of the Vietnamese government.

According to a local tour guide, Chinese tourists pay all the tour fees in advance in China and when coming to Da Nang, and the Chinese tour guides will be in charge of paying the expenses for their compatriot tourists. Activities such as renting car, booking hotel, eating, and buying admission tickets to places are done by cash and those places are all run by Chinese, making it impossible for Vietnamese agency to collect tax.

 Cao Tri Dung, vice chairman of Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) and chairman of the Da Nang travel society, said that these all-Chinese run tours are like "non-profit tours" to the local coffers, as all the money is collected by Chinese people, generating no benefit to Vietnam.

"Taking these tours, the Chinese tourists definitely miss many attraction places and cannot experience the best services provided by the Vietnamese locals," Dung said.

"In the meantime, they are also charged an exorbitant fee by their compatriots when going shopping at Chinese-run places."

Dung added that such Chinese-run tours are causing millions of dollar loss every year to Da Nang and the city's image also suffers a lot.

Difficult to check revenues and collect taxes

Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Nguyen Van Nhut, a tax inspector of the Ngu Hanh Son District, said it is complicated to fight against tax evasion in his district as there are a lot of Chinese-run businesses.

"If the district tax agency carries out the checking extensively and there is better collaboration among responsible governmental agencies, the amount of tax collected will be 70-80 percent higher," said Nhut.

It is also difficult to estimate the taxable revenue generated by such Chinese-run businesses as hotels, restaurants, and small shops along the city coast, the taxman added.

According to Kieu The Phong, deputy director of the Da Nang tax department, fighting against tax evasion by owners of hotels and restaurants faces many challenges as it is hard to evaluate the revenue of those businesses and most of the owners are not honest in declaring their revenue.

Selling products and charging services without a receipt are pervasive in Da Nang, making it extremely difficult to calculate the business's revenue in order to collect the right amount of tax.

"We have checked 62 restaurants and 24 hotels across the city and it has showed that the revenue of those businesses were much higher than what they declared," Phong said.

"According to our investigation, the occupancy of hotel's room was much higher than what the owners declared."

Dung, the VISTA vice chairman, said it is likely that those all-Chinese tourism activities in Da Nang are assisted by certain Vietnamese enterprises. The government should look into the issue and impose sanction on those illegal businesses, he suggested.

"One solution to fight against tax evasion is to require businesses to issue receipt for every transaction," Tung, the Vitours vice president, suggested.

"Another way is to establish a special tourism police force in charge of investigating illegal tourism activities."

Ngo Quan Vinh, director of the Da Nang tourism department, said he has requested all Vietnamese tourism agencies in the city not to assist the illegal activities of Chinese.

The agency will also collaborate with other authorities to constantly check foreigners, especially Chinese, who reside in the area on tourist visas.

"We will check Chinese individuals and enterprises suspected of illegally guiding or providing tourism services," Vinh said.

"In addition, we will strictly impose sanctions on Vietnamese tour guides and service providers who help Chinese or foreigners in running illegal tourism activities."

Tuoi Tre News - July 16, 2016
 Vietnam removes protesters gathered for anti-China rally in Hanoi urn:md5:c04450cab600db4890769fd131fdf882 2016-07-17T15:37:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinademonstrationsHanoi
About two dozen people are bused away even before they begin their protest against Beijing's claims in the South China Sea

Dozens of Vietnamese who gathered for an anti-China protest in central Hanoi were taken away by authorities on Sunday as they tried to rally support for an international tribunal's ruling rejecting Beijing's claims in the South China Sea.

About two dozen people were bused away from around the landmark Hoan Kiem Lake in the capital even before they began their protest. There was heavy police presence around the lake with cars briefly banned from around it.

The rally was organised by No-U group in Hanoi, which opposes China's expansive claims in the South China Sea. It came after the Hague-based permanent court of arbitration last week issued the ruling in a case initiated by the Philippines, which together with Vietnam is one of the claimants in the disputed waters.

Vietnam's communist authorities have clamped down on such protests before, fearing they could stir dissent.

China rejected the tribunal's ruling and refused to take part in the arbitration.

The UN tribunal ruled that China violated international maritime law, specifically the Philippines' maritime rights by building up artificial islands that destroyed coral reefs and by disrupting fishing and oil exploration.

The Associated Press - July 17, 2016

South China Sea: Vietnam detains activists after international ruling

Scores of activists have been detained in Vietnam's capital as they gathered to protest against China who rejected last week's ruling dismissing its claims to much of the South China Sea.

Anti-Chinese sentiment runs deep in communist Vietnam, but the country's authoritarian rulers move swiftly to tamp down expressions of public anger, fearful that allowing such protests might embolden criticism of their rule.

Activists had used social media to call for protests in Hanoi on Sunday in the wake of this week's ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague which found there was no legal basis for Beijing's claims to vast swathes of the South China Sea.

The case was brought by the Philippines, but the ruling has been a boon for other regional countries like Vietnam who also have competing claims to the strategic sea.

Authorities in the capital Hanoi were ready for protests.

Plainclothes security forces were out in force, blanketing much of the city centre and keeping a close eye on any crowds that might be gathering, a reporter on the scene said.

Throughout the morning, around 30 activists were swiftly bundled onto waiting buses and cars by security forces after they gathered to hold a protest near the city's famous Hoan Kiem lake, a common spot for demonstrations.

Hague ruling infuriates China

Beijing lays claim to virtually all of the South China Sea, putting it at odds with regional neighbours the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, which also have partial claims.

China boycotted the PCA hearings, saying the court had no jurisdiction, and has reacted furiously, vowing to ignore the ruling and arguing it misinterprets international law.

Vietnam and China frequently trade diplomatic barbs over the disputed Paracel island chain and waters in the South China Sea.

China has encouraged patriotic citizens to visit the contested Paracels, which are known as Xisha in Chinese.

Such acts have deepened already simmering anti-Chinese sentiment in Vietnam while domestic critics accuse Hanoi of being too meek towards its giant northern neighbour.

At least three Chinese nationals were killed in 2014 when rioting broke out in Vietnam after Beijing sent an oil rig into contested waters.

Agence France Presse - July 17, 2016
 Vietnam to deport 64 illegal Chinese workers of Nha Trang travel firm urn:md5:4c9ef31b7f634724401988dc8011698b 2016-07-14T12:07:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinatourismworker
Khanh Hoa Province's authorities announced Wednesday they are completing procedures to deport 64 Chinese people who were caught working illegally for a travel agency in the provincial capital town of Nha Trang.

They were employees of Silent Bay, a company that has been banned from organizing tours for foreign tourists, according to the province's Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.

Earlier, inspectors found that Silent Bay did not record and save relevant documents of their business. The company also forged documents when applying for a business registration and hired 64 Chinese employees illegally.

Following the inspection, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism asked Khanh Hoa to step up surveillance of travel agencies.

Foreign tour guides are not allowed to work in Vietnam.

Recent actions in Nha Trang came after Da Nang found illegal Chinese tour guides distorting Vietnam's history.

Media reports said there might be 60 Chinese working illegally as tour guides in Da Nang, the biggest city in Vietnam's central region.

By Hien Luong, Thanh Nien News - July 14, 2016
 Time to act responsibly, amicably urn:md5:e5c999a76c4da7f27f8b279001aeb486 2016-07-14T11:19:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinajusticeParacelSpratly
The Hague's Arbitral Tribunal on Tuesday finally rendered its long-awaited landmark ruling on the case of the Philippines versus China over claims to the East Sea (South China Sea).

The result came after three years filled with complicated procedures, international clapping, bitter objections and ballyhooed exchanges of words.

As the historic decision day approached, analysts and legal experts expected a ruling favourable to the Philippines following two hearings and some 4,000 pages of evidence submitted to the tribunal, yet how the ruling was delivered turned out to be unexpected.

In an interview with Việt Nam News right after the ruling was announced, Dr Markus Gehring, deputy director of the University of Cambridge's Centre for European Legal Studies, admitted he was a "little bit surprised at the clear, decisive language of the tribunal ruling", which hardly left "any room for doubt" on what the panel truly meant in its decision, or how to interpret the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Such legal interpretations were heretofore drawn arbitrarily with China's so-called 'nine-dash line' as the quintessential example, which was problematic to a great extent.

The Arbitral Tribunal rejected loud and clear Beijing's "historic rights" to resources within the sea area in the 'nine-dash line' and declared that none of the features in the Spratly Islands (Trường Sa) claimed by the northern powerhouse were capable of generating an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles as an individual feature nor as a collective unit.

It strongly stated that China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its EEZ and caused irreparable harm to the marine environment through land reclamation while at the same time, letting Chinese fishermen harvest endangered sea species on a substantial scale without actions to stop such activities.

The Tribunal also concluded that Beijing's in toto actions in the East Sea were "incompatible with the obligations on a State during dispute resolution proceedings", a final blow to China's oft-said declarations that it aimed to solve disputes by peaceful settlements in accordance with international law.

The ruling was hailed as landmark for a reason. It was the first time an international ruling, which is legally binding without chance for appeal, was clearly announced on the disputed East Sea.

East Sea claimants and the world fully understand that sovereignty issues extend beyond the reach of the July 12 ruling. Yet, it was no doubt a light at the end of the tunnel, offering bona fide hope that a peaceful solution settled by international law and norms is possible, and not just an empty promise on the tip of diplomats' tongues.

While most concerned parties have welcomed the ruling, China's reaction is writing on the wall for more troubles ahead.

Hours after the ruling, Chinese President Xi Jinping told European Union leaders attending the Asia-Europe Summit in Beijing that China would not "accept any positions or actions based on the outcome of an international tribunal's arbitration", once again repeating its tribunal-slammed claim to "historic rights" that were purportedly established in ancient times.

Yesterday, China released its White Book against the tribunal's ruling and declared it reserved the right to set up an air defence zone in the East Sea, one day after the Beijing Public Emergency Response Committee ordered all agencies to make preparations under "wartime status", according to the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily online newspaper.

The Philippines' Embassy in Beijing, meanwhile, advised its citizens in China to refrain from engaging in any political talks regarding the issue, a cautious move learnt by the Southeast nation after attacks against Japanese broke out in 2012 when Japan nationalised the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Dr Gehring believes it would be "domestically difficult for China to change its position" on the East Sea after the ruling. In the short-term, it is expected that Beijing will stay put with its sovereignty stance, partly because of pressure from the inside and nationalistic sentiment.

The National Border Committee's former chief, Trần Công Trục, agreed that nationalism was and will be a strong force, nurtured by decades of education and territorial declarations by the Chinese government. At least in the immediate future, this sentiment will challenge any possible changes to Beijing's stance on handling territorial integrity and sovereignty issues, Trục said.

Refusing to abide by the unanimous ruling would cost China, as a signatory to UNCLOS, the fragile credibility of a peaceful rising power in Asia and the world over. Furthermore, China is also a member of the United Nations Security Council and is thus tasked with holding other countries accountable and insisting that they comply with the rule of law.

Trục believes that any negative reactions by China in the aftermath of the ruling would also pull down its ambitious mega-project 'One Belt, One Road' because the countries China has been trying to seduce into the project may become "suspicious of Beijing's real intentions of the project, as it has said one thing but done another".

It took centuries for nations that had gone through brutal wars and sacrificed so much blood to reach agreements, establishing institutions and laws, such as the UN and UNCLOS, to end a state of lawlessness, of course with certain compromises regarding their raison d'État.

After The Hague Arbitral Tribunal's ruling, it is natural that some parties are happy, some welcome with reservations and others are unhappy. I believe it is high time nations started considering responsible actions with good will to promote peaceful resolutions to the East Sea issue and avoid plunging the region back into a state of lawlessness.

It will take cool-headed negotiations, diplomatic talks and other peaceful means to settle the East Sea dispute for the sake of all claimants involved, not excluding China.

By Chi Lan - Vietnam News - July 14, 2016
 Vietnam faces dilemma after stunning setback for China urn:md5:33ca188d8038ff10f1bd763be134ffe5 2016-07-12T20:32:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaSpratly
Vietnam is confronted by dangers and opportunities following a stunning rebuke to China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.

An international tribunal in The Hague rejected China's claim to historic rights over 90 % of the South China Sea, and ruled that its reclaimed islands and outcrops in the Spratlys had no right to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Vietnam was not party to the legal dispute, which was brought by the Philippines.

Hanoi, however, will receive a major legal and diplomatic boost in its own efforts to resist China's belligerence in the disputed waters.

The main danger for Vietnam is that China will respond by stepping up its military presence, increasing the danger of hostilities, in an attempt to bolster its severely damaged territorial claims.

China sinks Vietnamese fishing boat

China has described the ruling as "ill-founded". It has repeated its long held position that it would not be bound by the ruling.

That position could lead to further confrontation with its neighbors and the United States, which has significantly increased its naval presence in the region in recent weeks.

Tensions are already on the rise.

Just before the ruling, Vietnam accused the Chinese coastguard of sinking one of its fishing boats off the coast of central Vietnam.

Vietnamese officials said that Chinese coast guards had forced Vietnamese fishermen off one of two boats operating near the disputed Paracel Islands and then sunk it.

They said the men spent hours in the water before being rescued by the other Vietnamese boat.

The incident is likely to inflame opinion in Vietnam where China is seen as using its economic power and military might to bully a smaller neighbor.

Damage to environment

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague claimed no jurisdiction on the rights to ownership or administration of various outcrops in the disputed waters.

It was clear, however, that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China has no claim to EEZs in the Spratly chain.

It also said that China's far more ambitious but vaguely defined claim to "historic rights" over all the waters within its "nine-dash line" had no legal basis.

China has used the line, drawn up by the KMT government in the 1940s, to push its territorial claim deep into the EEZs of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

The tribunal also condemned China for its harassment of Filipino fishermen in areas well outside its territorial waters, and for severely damaging the environment in its construction of man-made islands and potential military bases on partially submerged outcrops.

Moral victory

There was no ruling, however, on the status of waters around the Paracel Islands, the western reaches of which were seized by China from Vietnam in 1974.

The Philippines is not party to that dispute, so did not bring a case against China.

Vietnam must now decide whether to bring its case against China to The Hague in a challenge to Beijing's control of waters around the Paracels.

The blow to China's claim to the "nine-dash line" and to waters in the Spratlys, however, will already be seen as a major moral and strategic victory for Vietnam.

Much now depends on how China will react, and how the Philippines, under its unpredictable new president, Rodrigo Duterte, will respond.

Contradictory and confused statements from Philippine officials in recent days have led to severe doubts about how Manila intends to proceed.

The inquirer (.ph) - July 13, 2016
 Vietnam protests against chinese drills in South China sea urn:md5:8aad8f6864291b9bf94e99e178f39ba6 2016-07-05T21:10:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinamilitaryParacelSpratly
Vietnam has protested against a Chinese military drill in the contested South China Sea and has demanded that China stop the actions it says are a threat to security and maritime safety.

China announced that it will carry out the week-long military drills on and around the Paracel islands starting Tuesday. They will finish on the eve of a ruling by an international tribunal in a case filed by the Philippines challenging China's claims to most of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement posted late Monday on the ministry's website that China's moves seriously violate Vietnamese sovereignty and demanded that China stop the drills.

"Vietnam strongly protests and demanded that China respect Vietnam's sovereignty, behave responsibly, immediately stop and do not take actions that threaten security, maritime safety in the East Sea or escalate tension in this region," Binh said, referring to the South China Sea.

China's military exercise comes as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to issue a ruling on July 12 on a case brought by the Philippines in 2013 contesting China's claims in the South China Sea.

Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim the Paracel islands which are occupied by China, and those three along with the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or parts of the Spratly islands, which are believed to rich in natural resources and occupy one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

China's massive land reclamation projects and increased militarization of the seven reefs and atolls in the Spratlys over the past two years have raised serious concerns in the region.

The Associated Press - July 4, 2016
 China, Vietnam pledge to cooperate at sea amid maritime dispute urn:md5:c5aa5a138e56e981507ae5fcf068bd29 2016-06-28T20:26:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinadiplomacy
Chinese official's visit to Hanoi comes ahead of tribunal's South China Sea ruling

Vietnam and China, despite differences over their competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, agreed to improve cooperation between their coast guards and better manage their maritime disputes.

The countries signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday, Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, during a visit to Hanoi by Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

"The two sides agreed that there is a need to promote friendly and comprehensive cooperation," the ministry said following a meeting between Mr. Yang and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Mr. Yang's visit came ahead of a closely watched verdict by an international tribunal in The Hague on China's claims over the South China Sea. Beijing has boycotted the proceedings and has said it will ignore the tribunal's ruling.

Monday's agreement also follows a visit to Vietnam last month by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has sought to court Hanoi amid its standoff with Beijing. Mr. Obama lifted a longstanding U.S. arms embargo on Vietnam and has moved to normalize relations between the former foes, capitalizing on Hanoi's unease over China's military buildup in the region.

Vietnam's foreign ministry said the two officials discussed maritime issues, stressing the importance of not letting disputes escalate. China's construction of artificial islands in disputed waters of the South China Sea has alarmed several of its smaller neighbors who also claim territory there.

Vietnam also announced that it will allow China to open a consulate in the central coastal city of Da Nang.

By Vu Trong Khanh - The Wall Street Journal - June 28, 2016
 Top Chinese envoy in Vietnam as tension looms before court ruling urn:md5:7c5a21d36de2f994c718a9c2f9431743 2016-06-27T08:27:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinadiplomacyParacelSpratly
China's top diplomat arrived in Vietnam on Monday for a scheduled meeting to strengthen historically close relations, at a time when ties are strained by squabbles over the South China Sea.

The trip by State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister, comes amid a Chinese public relations blitz to try to discredit a looming verdict by an international tribunal that could aggravate tensions if it undermines Beijing's vast claims to waters extending far into Southeast Asia.

Yang was due to co-chair a "steering committee" that aims to strengthen ties and ward-off disputes. He will make courtesy calls on the Vietnamese leadership later on Monday.

"We're glad to realize that the two nations' relationship over the time continues its positive development, despite some existing problems that need to be solved," Vietnam's Foreign Minister and deputy premier Pham Binh Minh said after greeting Yang.

China has said at least 47 countries have offered support for its refusal to recognize a high-profile case brought by the Philippines in 2013 to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. A senior U.S. official last week voiced scepticism about that claim.

Chinese diplomats have written editorials in regional newspapers denouncing the Philippine case, which seeks clarification of parts of United Nations maritime law and is seen as a bold challenge, with scope for repercussions.

Experts say it is unlikely Yang would seek a sympathetic ear from Vietnam, which has trust issues with China and has recently grown closer to the Philippines.

Though Vietnam is not part of the Hague case, it stands to benefit from a positive ruling for Manila and has echoed its opposition to China's fortification of artificial islands, the conduct of its coastguard and perceived intrusions into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone.

Ha Hoang Hop, a Vietnamese academic who has advised the government, said there was "no hidden agenda" behind Yang's visit and there were no compromises to be made over the South China Sea.

The Hague ruling is expected in the coming months and there are concerns in the United States about how China could react should the verdict not work in its favor.

China and the United States have accused each other of trying to militarize a shipping route vital to the stability of the global economy.

By Martin Petty & Mai Nguyen -Reuters - June 27, 2016
 Vietnam spends $10.7b on Chinese imports in Q1 urn:md5:1f8e86ec0b862eb162400a7594642d2f 2016-04-20T08:20:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english businessChinaimports
In the first quarter (Q1) of 2016, Vietnam spent $10.7 billion on imports from China, accounting for around 28 percent of Vietnam's total import revenue, according to Vietnam Customs on Tuesday.

During the period, China was the top supplier to Vietnam with such items as machines, equipments, spare parts, garment, textile materials, cell phones and accessories, computers and accessories, and fabrics among others, local media quoted the Vietnam Customs as saying.

In the first quarter, Vietnam exported goods worth $4.2 billion to China.

During the period, the South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ranked second and third among major exporters to Vietnam with respective revenue of $6.8 billion and $5.3 billion.

Also according to the Vietnam Customs, in the first quarter, Vietnam's total trade revenue with foreign partners hit over $76.2 billion. The country's export revenue reached $38.77 billion and import revenue was $37.43 billion.

Xinhua Agency - April 20, 2016
 Vietnamese girls smuggled into China and sold as child brides urn:md5:ee3805f2f9ab90a32eb573cdf930d4de 2016-04-18T08:38:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinasmugglingwomen
"When I woke up I didn't know that I was in China." Lan remembers the night that changed her whole life.

While preparing for university along the border in northern Vietnam, a friend she met online asked her to a group dinner. When she was tired and wanted to go home, the people asked her to stay and talk and have a drink. Next thing she knew, she had been smuggled across the border to China. "At that time, I wanted to leave," says Lan. "There were other girls there in the car but there was people to guard us."

The villages along the Vietnamese-Chinese border are a hunting ground for human traffickers. Girls as young as 13 say they are tricked or drugged, then spirited across the porous border by boat, motorbike or car. Young Vietnamese women are valuable commodities in China, where the one-child policy and long-standing preference for sons has heavily skewed the gender ratio. To put it simply, Chinese men are hungry for brides.

Vietnamese girls as young as 13 are taken to China by human traffickers, to be sold as brides. Pictured, girls reading leaflets designed to educate them about the threat of sex trafficking at a market in Northern Vietnam.

"It costs a very huge amount of money for normal Chinese man to get married to a Chinese woman," explained Ha Thi Van Khanh, national project coordinator for the U.N.'s anti-trafficking organization in Vietnam. Traditionally, Chinese men wishing to marry local women are expected to pay for an elaborate banquet and to have purchased a new home to live in after the wedding. "This is why they try to import women from neighboring countries, including Vietnam." Diep Vuong started the Pacific Links Foundation to combat trafficking in Vietnam. She says that Vietnamese brides can sell for upwards of $3,000 to the end buyer and that they are often considered desirable because of cultural similarities to the Chinese.

Nguyen was just 16 when a friend's boyfriend drugged her and smuggled her into China. She tried to resist a forced marriage. For three months, she refused, even though her traffickers beat her, withheld food and threatened to kill her, she says. Finally, she relented. She says her husband was kind to her, but she never stopped missing her family in Vietnam. "My desire to go home was indescribable," Nguyen said. "I agreed to marry the man but I could not stay with a stranger without any feelings for him." When her mother-in-law realized Lan was never going to warm to the marriage, the family returned her to the traffickers. They got their money back, Nguyen says, after which she was forced into a second marriage.

A refuge for escaped women

The Pacific Links Foundation runs a shelter for trafficking victims in the city of Lao Cai, northern Vietnam. The young women stay for an average of two to three years. They go to school or get vocational training. They do art therapy. They learn to cook and sew and keep a big garden. Surrounded by other woman with similar experiences, the shelter helps them get back on their feet and then to find jobs to support themselves. "Once that whole investment process can happen with these young women then it is much easier for them to have their own lives," says Diep. Her organization also does community outreach to try and stop more girls from falling into the hands of traffickers. About once a month, a group of trafficking victims visits the market at Bac Ha, a regional hub for buying food, fabric and livestock. On this day, on a stage overlooking hundreds of shoppers, they talk about their experiences, take questions and play games with the crowd. When they ask people to share personal experiences concerning trafficking, more than 20 people come forward. "I think awareness is the only tool," Diep says.

Ha from the U.N. agrees that the top priority is to spread awareness, especially in the poor, rural regions along the border. She also believes reducing poverty will help stop women going to China seeking work, another common way traffickers lure victims.

Saved at the border

During CNN's trip to the border, the government called and told us the police had just rescued five girls as they were about to cross the border with a trafficker. We met the girls, who are just 14 years old. They said they were promised $600 to go to work in China by a neighbor from the same village. They didn't tell their parents they were going. The neighbor is now under arrest. The Vietnamese police are sometimes able to rescue women even after they have crossed into China, by enlisting the help of Chinese authorities. Nguyen Tuong Long, the head of the government's social vice prevention department in Lao Cai, says last year they rescued and returned 109 Vietnamese trafficking victims.

"Because of cooperation between the Vietnamese and the Chinese police, we have found and caught trafficking rings," Nguyen says. "We've found women far inside China, at brothels where they're forced to become sex workers." Trafficked women who aren't rescued in raids have to find ways to get out on their own. Some of them say they were able to contact their families from China, but they couldn't get help from police because they didn't know exactly where they were. Lan and Nguyen ended up in the same town in China. After two years, together they managed to slip out of their homes and take a taxi to a local police station. The whole time they were afraid their husbands' families would find them. The Chinese police investigated and eventually returned them to Vietnam.

The women were free of their forced marriages, but they paid a high price. Both left their babies in China. Lan says if she saw her daughter again, she would apologize for leaving her behind. "I hope she'll have a better life there," she says. Both Lan and Nguyen say in school their teachers had talked to them about trafficking. At the time, neither believed it could happen to them.

By Pamela Boykoff - CNN.com - April 18, 2016
 Vietnam tells China to remove oil rig from disputed waters urn:md5:df5e494a1045b50647d67025ed33a8ae 2016-04-08T18:20:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinadiplomatieoil and gas company
Vietnam's government on Thursday said it had told China to pull an oil rig from waters between the two countries that haven't been demarcated and urged Beijing not to drill for oil or gas in the area.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. towed the rig, known as HYSY 981, into a disputed area of the South China Sea in May 2014, triggering an uproar in Vietnam. Anti-Chinese riots broke out in several parts of the country while Chinese and Vietnamese coast-guard and fishing vessels stood off against each other at sea.

In a statement on Vietnam's government website, foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said China last pulled the rig to its present location in the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin on Sunday. It was towed to a nearby location in January.

"Vietnam strongly protests this and demands that China drop its drilling plans and move it out of the area," Mr. Binh said. He said Vietnam had lodged an official protest with China's embassy in Hanoi.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news briefing on Friday that the "operation is in undisputed Chinese waters and it is a normal, commercial exploration. We hope relevant countries would take an objective and reasonable view on this."

This latest spat comes as relations between the two countries are deteriorating again. Vietnamese authorities last week seized a Chinese ship they said had illegally entered Vietnamese waters carrying 100,000 liters of diesel fuel. State media in Hanoi reported the captain of the three-man vessel as saying the boat was supplying oil to Chinese fishing boats in the area.

It also comes as Vietnam completes its new leadership lineup.

The country's legislature on Thursday formally elected Nguyen Xuan Phuc as prime minister, replacing Nguyen Tan Dung, an outspoken and popular critic of China's military and commercial expansion in the South China Sea in recent years.

Mr. Phuc joins State President Tran Dai Quang and Communist Party Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong, who has grown more critical of China's role in the region, as the third of the country's top leaders.

By Vu Trong Khanh - The Wall Street Journal - April 8, 2016

China rebuffs Vietnam criticism of oil rig move

China's Foreign Ministry on Friday rebuffed Vietnam's second demand this year to move a controversial oil rig and drop plans to drill in South China Sea waters where jurisdiction is unclear, saying it was engaging in normal exploration activity.

The $1-billion rig, which was at the center of a fierce diplomatic stand-off between the countries in 2014, had moved into an area of the Gulf of Tonkin over which, Vietnam said, the two countries were still "executing delineation discussions".

"The relevant work is in undisputed Chinese waters, and it is normal commercial exploration," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing. "We hope the relevant party takes an objective and reasonable view on this."

He did not elaborate.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea amid rival claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Two years ago, China parked the rig, the Haiyang Shiyou 981, for 10 weeks in waters Vietnam considers its exclusive economic zone, triggering their worst row in decades and an outcry among Vietnamese nationalists.

Many experts call the move a miscalculation by Beijing that played into the hands of the United States. Since the row, Vietnam has become closer to Washington than ever before.

Vietnam closely tracks the movement of the oil rig, which has operated as far away as the Bay of Bengal, and has been close to disputed waters several times since 2014.

Both of Vietnam's protests this year against the rig's activity have coincided with leadership changes in Hanoi.

Vietnam swore in a new prime minister on Thursday and a new president last week. Its previous complaint about the rig was in January, two days before the start of its Communist Party's five-yearly congress.

Vietnam has also criticized China's decision to start operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, saying it violated Vietnam's sovereignty and was illegal.

Hong said the lighthouse was a matter for China, but it had been built to improve navigational safety for all users of the South China Sea.

By Jessica Macy Yu - Reuters - April 8, 2016
 Vietnam seizes chinese ship, State media reports urn:md5:b9187bbc812fe20a308a14428ba61bf5 2016-04-03T10:30:00+02:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinaseaship
Border Defense Force accuses vessel of intruding into Vietnam's territorial waters

Vietnam has seized a Chinese ship with three people on board, saying they sailed the vessel into its territorial waters, Vietnamese state media reported Sunday.

The Border Defense Force of Haiphong City found the vessel carrying 100,000 liters of diesel oil Thursday near Vietnam's Bach Long Vi Island in the Gulf of Tonkin, reported the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, which is run by Hanoi Police Department. After seizing it, the force towed the ship to the city.

The arrest of the vessel is a rare move by the Vietnamese authorities, who have accused Chinese fishing vessels of intruding its waters several times in the past without arrests.

Tension between Vietnam and China rose to its highest level in decades in 2014, after China towed an oil rig to disputed waters in the South China Sea in 2014, triggering dangerous boat ramming and anti-China riots in Vietnam.

The captain of the seized vessel said it was carrying fuels for Chinese fishing vessels operating in the area, the newspaper reported.

It said Vietnamese authorities are investigating the case.

Officials from Vietnam and China weren't immediately available for comment on Sunday.

By Vu Trong Khanh - The Wall Street Journal - April 3, 2016

Vietnam seizes Chinese oil tanker for infringing its waters

 A Chinese oil tanker and its crew were captured by Vietnamese border defense soldiers in the Gulf of Tonkin earlier this week for intruding into Vietnam's maritime territory, the border defense command said.

The Command of Hai Phong Border Defense has announced that the unit had caught a Chinese oil tanker operating within Vietnamese waters in the gulf on Thursday.

One of the largest cities in Vietnam, Hai Phong is a municipality located on the northern coast.

According to the Hai Phong Border Defense, the unit detected Chinese vessel number 13056 violating Vietnam's sovereignty at a location 12 nautical miles to the southwest of the Gulf of Tonkin's maritime delimitation, which is within the administration of Vietnam's offshore district of Bach Long Vi.

The First Flotilla under the Second Squadron of the Hai Phong Border Defense immediately set out on a chase and captured the violating vessel.

 The oil tanker was captained by 38-year-old Tan Shuiyang from Guangdong, who led a crew of two other Chinese nationals.

Tan confessed to Vietnamese authorities that the tanker was carrying over 100,000 liters of diesel oil to refuel fishing vessels in the area.

The captain, however, failed to present relevant documents to prove the origin of the oil, while his two crew members had no operating license.

The violating tanker and all three seafarers were taken to the Bach Dang estuary on Friday evening for further investigation.

Tuoi Tre News - April 4, 2016
 Vietnam protesters denounce China on anniversary of navy battle urn:md5:c592b9823d17b1ef1302c0eb74b27e6a 2016-03-14T20:18:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinademonstrationsHanoiSpratly
Demonstrators marched in Vietnam's capital on Monday to mark the 28th anniversary of a bloody naval battle with China and to denounce Beijing's growing assertiveness in the hotly contested waters of the South China Sea.

About 150 people wearing headbands and carrying large banners circled the busy streets around Hanoi's Hoan Kiem lake chanting "down with invasive China". They laid wreaths for 64 Vietnamese sailors who died in a 1988 clash with Chinese forces in the Spratly islands.

The protest was small, but significant given Vietnam's history of preventing or breaking up demonstrations. While anti-China sentiment is strong among the public, it is a sensitive issue for the ruling Communist Party.

Police made no attempt to stop the 90-minute protest, which was larger than those last year, including one on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Hanoi in November.

The rally comes amid tension, brinkmanship and a torrent of megaphone diplomacy in response to anything from Chinese flights and deployment of a missile system to U.S. "freedom of navigation" patrols and Japanese defense agreements with the Philippines.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry last month accused China of taking actions that threaten peace and "accelerate militarization".

Monday's demonstration was over a battle in the Johnson Reef in the Spratly islands. Accounts of it differ greatly and Vietnam does not commemorate the incident officially.

"That was the first step in China's plan to militarize the South China Sea," said activist Nguyen Van Phuong, 29, referring to the 1988 hostilities.

Though Vietnam opposes China's occupation of the Paracel Islands and parts of the Spratly archipelago, its responses to Beijing's activities in disputed areas are usually measured and often come days after those of other countries.

China is Vietnam's biggest trade partner and the communist parties that run both countries have historically been close, although some Vietnamese leaders have said trust has been impacted of late.

By Martin Petty - Reuters - March 14, 2016

Vietnam's anti-China activists mark anniversary of 'long forgotten' Gac Ma Island battle that left 64 soldiers dead

Vietnam's communist leadership's handling of its delicate relationship with China is a frequent flashpoint for domestic criticism of Vietnam's authoritarian government.

Activists chanted anti-China slogans in the Vietnamese capital on Monday to mark the anniversary of a 1988 battle in the Spratly Islands, a rare act of protest over an issue that has come to dog relations between Hanoi and Beijing.

The two neighbours are locked in long-standing territorial disputes over the Spratly and Paracel Islands, which both countries claim.

One-party Vietnam clamps down on public protest. But anti-Chinese demonstrations have become increasingly commonplace, particularly around the March 14 anniversary of a skirmish between China and Vietnam.

In 1988 China launched an attack on Gac Ma Island – one of the larger Spratly Islands which was formerly under Vietnamese military control – killing 64 Vietnamese soldiers in the last violent conflict between the two nations.

"We are here to commemorate our soldiers killed by Chinese," teacher Pham Toan said in front of a statue of Ly Thai To – the founder of Hanoi and a nationalist figurehead.

"Their sacrifice has been long forgotten by Vietnamese authorities," Toan added, referring to activist claims that the communist authorities do not sufficiently commemorate the battle.

Vietnam's communist leadership's handling of its delicate relationship with China – which is the country's largest trading partner – is a frequent flashpoint for domestic criticism of Vietnam's authoritarian government.

Watched by dozens of plain-clothed security officers, the activists played patriotic music and waved Vietnamese flags near the central Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi.

Dozens of activists laid floral wreaths covered with black ribbons that read "the people will never forget" at the statue of Ly Thai To.

The protest lasted about an hour. Vietnam's tightly controlled state media covered the anniversary but not Monday's protest. There was no official comment from the government.

Beijing's increasingly assertive stance in contested waters has triggered public anger and rounds of protests in authoritarian Vietnam where the demonstrations are sometimes forcefully broken up.

The Spratlys are claimed by Hanoi but controlled by Beijing, which has ramped up activity in the area by rapidly building artificial islands, including airstrips said to be capable of hosting military jets.

Rioting broke out in Vietnam after Beijing sent an oil rig into contested waters in 2014, and at least three Chinese people were killed.

Apart from China and Vietnam the Spratly Islands are claimed in whole or in part by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Agence France Presse - March 14, 2016
 China top trade partner of Vietnam: Vietnamese official urn:md5:a7e513eb92068de052164ef8f0de4130 2016-03-08T08:32:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english businessChinaeconomy
A Vietnamese official described China as a top partner of Vietnam with two-way trade of over 66 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 during an event held in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Monday.

Speaking at a business forum between Vietnamese and China's Guangxi business, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said Vietnam exported more than 17 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods to China, mainly electronic spare parts, agricultural and seafood products, as well as coal among others in 2015, according to Vietnamese statistics.

Meanwhile, the country imported machinery and equipment from China, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA cited Khuong as saying.

Currently, China is running over 1,300 projects in Vietnam with total capital of over 10 billion U.S. dollars, Khuong said, adding that the investment is forecast to surge in the near future.

Vice Chairwoman of Guangxi's Trade Promotion Association Zhou Ling said the close geographical distance facilitates bilateral transport activities and cooperation in the spirit of making the best use of their strengths and potential.

Vietnam is expected to serve as an entrepot for China and Guangxi in particular to boost trade with the ASEAN business community, she said.

During the forum, Chinese businesses expressed their wish to seek investment opportunities and partners in the fields of hotel, food processing, health equipment, and agriculture.

What's more, Chinese authorities counted 95.82 billion U.S. dollars Sino-Vietnam trade in 2015, instead of Vietnam's figure of over 66 billion U.S. dollars. Both sides conclude that China has been Vietnam's top trade partner for the past 12 years.

Xinhua Agency - March 8, 2016
 Vietnam slams China over 'violation' of sovereignty urn:md5:8f57695f6b17bb4a07953bde98e3b592 2016-02-19T20:08:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinamilitary
Vietnam lodged a formal protest with China and the United Nations chief on Friday, saying it was "deeply concerned" over Beijing's apparent deployment of an advanced surface-to-air missile system on a disputed island in the South China Sea.

"These are serious infringements of Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracels, threatening peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight," foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said.

His statement said diplomatic notes had been issued to China's embassy in Hanoi and to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protest Beijing's activities.

Taiwan and U.S. officials said on Wednesday the missile system had been deployed to Woody island, which is part of the China-controlled Paracel chain that Vietnam and Taiwan also claim sovereignty over.

At a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in California on Monday, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested to U.S. President Barack Obama that Washington take "more efficient actions" against militarization and island-building in the South China Sea.

On Feb. 17, Vietnamese activists chanted anti-China slogans in Hanoi as they marked the 37th anniversary of a border war with their giant neighbor, in a memorial that followed reports that Beijing has installed missile systems in contested seas.

Security officials stood by as veterans chanted "down with China, down with China's invasion."

The short but bloody war came after Vietnam toppled the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge regime in neighbouring Cambodia.

It claimed tens of thousands of lives and ended with Chinese forces withdrawing but both powers claiming victory.

Reuters - February 19, 2016
 We will never forget': Anti-China sentiment simmers in Vietnam on anniversary of bloody border war that had no winner urn:md5:40ea3bf0c5e1d758eae0528295f99dca 2016-02-18T08:27:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinawar
Vietnamese activists chanted anti-China slogans in Hanoi Wednesday as they marked the 37th anniversary of a border war with their giant neighbour, in a memorial that followed reports that Beijing has installed missile systems in contested seas.

The two communist countries are locked in a long-standing territorial dispute over the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea.

Vietnam's premier is due to return home Wednesday after attending a summit hosted by the United States aimed at bolstering regional resolve in the face of China's military muscle-flexing.

On Wednesday, Beijing defended the deployment of armaments in the South China Sea after Taiwan said surface-to-air missiles had been installed on a disputed island in the Paracel chain in the region.

In a pre-planned event, more than 100 people gathered in Hanoi to mark an older territorial conflict: China's 1979 invasion of Vietnam's northernmost provinces.

Security officials stood by as veterans chanted "down with China, down with China's invasion."

Thirty seven years ago, 600,000 Chinese troops invaded northern Vietnam to "teach Vietnam a lesson" for ousting the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. China withdrew its troops after a month, but both powers claimed victory.

Although Vietnam fetes its military victories over the French and American armies, it did not arrange any official events to mark the China border war - much to the chagrin of veterans and activists.

"We are very sad that there has never been any official organisation (memorial) for the day," 64-year-old Vietnamese war veteran Pham Thanh said at Wednesday's commemoration in central Hanoi, where demonstrators carried banners that read "we will never forget".

Beijing's increasingly assertive stance in contested waters has triggered public anger and rounds of protests in authoritarian Vietnam where the demonstrations are sometimes forcefully broken up.

China is also Vietnam's largest trading partner, complicating Hanoi's position towards its neighbour.

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama announced plans to make his first state visit to Vietnam in May, which Vietnam's foreign ministry hailed as "carrying Vietnam-US relations to new heights".

Agence France Presse - February 17, 2016
 Chinese media : our artificial islands are better than Vietnam's urn:md5:bf661373d1f30dbadd0997018347e144 2016-02-06T14:53:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaParacelSpratly
A Chinese media report claims that Vietnamese land reclamation on a Spratly reef was washed away in a typhoon.

China has often had satellite imagery used against it as it built artificial islands in the South China Sea. This week, though, it's China's turn: a Chinese media outlet, China Youth Net, is using satellite images to enjoy some schadenfreude at Vietnam's expense.

First, the site points to the satellite imagery as evidence that Vietnam "illegally" constructed artificial islands on "China's Nanhua Reef," one of the disputed features in the Spratlys (known as Cornwallis South Reef in English). China Youth Net said Vietnam had dredged up sand and built two "man-made islands" in the South China Sea. In the images, a trench (purportedly causing by Vietnam's dredging) is clearly visible in the water around the feature.

However, the article then claims most of the sand was finally washed away by the ocean – "because of Vietnam's low technological level" during the reclamation process. As evidence, China Youth Net provided satellite images of two unnamed reefs, from August and December 2016. In the December photos, much of the landmass has indeed washed away. The site concludes that last December's Typhoon Jasmine "upset Vietnam's calculations" by "blowing away" its artificial islands.

The images posted by China Youth Net were highly zoomed in, making it difficult to confirm the reclamation work was in fact being done on Cornwallis South Reef. However, a separate satellite image of Cornwallis South Reef taken on December 7, 2015, according to the Chinese website Baike, shows the entire feature with the two areas of reclamation in context. The Diplomat was able to independently confirm that some reclamation work on Cornwallis South Reef had been washed away by a storm in December.

The full feature is an atoll in a long, roughly oval shape—Vietnam was reclaiming land in two separate spots on the southwestern and southeastern ends, according to the Baike imagery. Other satellite images circulating on Chinese websites suggested the reclamation began in April 2015.

People's Daily, which also picked up the story, said the total area of reclaimed land was 0.03 square kilometers. According to the Digital Gazetteer of the Spratly Islands, Cornwallis South Reef is "naturally above water only at low tide."

When Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang was asked about the reports in a regular press conference, he told reporters that China's "position remains unchanged: We have indisputable sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters."

Lu added, "We maintain that disputes with neighboring countries over the Nansha Spratly Islands should be resolved through bilateral and friendly consultations."

The China Youth Net post wasn't all that interested in slamming Vietnam for carrying out the land reclamation, however. Instead, the piece proudly concluded that China's method of building artificial islands – by sucking sand up rather than dredging it from the seafloor the old fashioned way – was superior, as it resulted in taller islands better able to withstand waves. "Island-building isn't as simple as it looks," the article said. "It's an extremely complicated integrated engineering project that tests a country's comprehensive national power."

"Not everyone can turn a small reef into an airport on the ocean like China did."

By Shannon Tiezzi - The Diplomat - February 6, 2016
 Is China interfering in Vietnam's politics with Its South China Sea moves ? urn:md5:0c3d4b95b14a1c6fd488e66cb08c6963 2016-01-23T11:24:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaCommunist Partypolicy
Some say Beijing is trying to influence the outcome of the Communist Party congress in Vietnam.

Are China's recent moves in contested maritime areas aimed to influence the outcome of a pivotal Communist Party congress now underway in Vietnam? Beijing's latest shows of force in the South China Sea have coincided with an unusually pitched and still unresolved struggle for Vietnam's ruling party's leadership, pitting Prime Minister Nguyen Van Dung, a two-term premier who has drawn progressively closer to the United States, againt incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, leader of a more conservative faction ideologically allied to China.

On Tuesday, Vietnam claimed that China had towed a massive oil exploration rig into waters both countries claim in the South China Sea and demanded that Beijing withdraw it from the area. A similar episode in spring 2014 sparked anti-China riots that ransacked Chinese and other foreign-invested factories, killed at least three Chinese nationals, and forced Beijing to evacuate thousands of its fearful nationals. At the time, Dung's hard and Trong's soft response to the perceived incursion underscored intra-party divisions that have since deepened over how best to manage China's rising assertiveness over control of nearby waterways.

The new rig furor follows on China's test flights to an artificial island Beijing recently built at the contested Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. Hanoi said in a statement that the flights threatened regional aviation and called on Beijing to desist from future flights to the maritime feature. State media shrilly dubbed the flights, which reportedly passed through Ho Chi Minh City's flight information region, "kamikaze" missions. Beijing countered that it had advised Hanoi in advance of the flights and that because they flew over Chinese sovereign territory, the flights were exempt from international civil aviation regulations.

The diplomatic storms have cast a cloud over Vietnam's 12th National Congress, where top leadership positions will be determined for the next five years. Dung's faction had been ascendant in the lead-up to the congress, buoyed by his tough stand vis-à-vis China amid escalating territorial disputes. Many analysts had earlier predicted that Dung and his factional allies were poised to take the party's top four posts, namely party secretary general, prime minister, president, and National Assembly chairman, a quadrumvirate of power that if formed would be expected to tilt economically and strategically towards the United States.

That analysis began to shift in late December when Trong, 72, hinted at his intention to stay on for a year or longer as party general secretary, beyond the 65-year-old age limit for Politburo members to assume new posts. Dung, 66, would likewise require an special exception to become party general secretary. Reports indicated that Trong, not Dung, was nominated for the post at the party's Central Committee Conference held earlier this month, raising procedural questions if Dung can still be nominated and elected to the position at the national congress. The 1,510 party representative vote, usually a rubber stamp exercise on a pre-agreed candidate, is scheduled for January 27, according to news reports.

Some analysts suggest that China weighed on the Central Committee's decision against Dung, a move that by certain readings of the party's arcane procedures would force the pro-U.S. leader into mandatory retirement. On December 23, National Assembly chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, deputy chairman Huynh Ngoc Son and members of the party Central Committee landed in Beijing for five days of meetings with senior Chinese leaders, including President Xi Jinping. State media said the visit aimed merely to promote bilateral ties. Independent analysts, on the other hand, have speculated Beijing leveraged the diplomatic occasion to voice its concerns about a possible Dung-dominated, U.S.-aligned government.

Vietnam's blogosphere, always heavy on calumny, slight and intrigue, has been particularly venomous in the run-up to the national congress. Yet Politburo member and Central Propaganda Committee head Dinh The Huynh felt obliged to publicly deny commentary spread widely on social media that Hung visited Beijing specifically to seek China's guidance on who should lead the party and government. Nguyen Tan Dung's unofficial eponymous website ran an article that same day entitled, "Do not allow China to interfere into Vietnam's internal affairs after a warm handshake" in reference to Hung's and Central Committee members' photo-op meeting with Xi.

Two days earlier, in a de facto campaign speech in Vietnam's one-party political system, Dung urged over 60 provincial and city leaders via video conference to fight against any actions or plots that aimed to interfere in the country's internal affairs ahead of the national congress, according to reports. Dung also underlined the need to firmly defend the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, an appeal to nationalism vis-à-vis China known to resonate with many younger party members, not to mention the country's increasingly vocal but still harshly suppressed pro-democracy and independent blogger communities.

In an apparent tit-for-tat response, Trong visited various security units in Hanoi on January 2 to demand "total security" for the congress and remind commanding officers that their loyalty was first and foremost to the party. Three days later, military and police staged a mass exercise in the capital comprised of over 5,000 security personnel, a strong signal that Trong's faction maintains command control over the armed forces and that any anti-China or other protest mobilized coincident with the congress would be quickly suppressed. Whether those same forces could be called by Trong to void a vote or enforce a contested procedure is a question that suddenly looms heavily over Vietnam's most protracted and high-stakes leadership struggle in years.

By Shawn W. Crispin - The Diplomat - January 23, 2016
 South China Sea: Vietnam accuses China of dragging oil rig into its waters urn:md5:1996a895090c02f3af47b092d420678b 2016-01-20T20:44:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaParacelSpratly
Vietnam has accused China of towing a $1 billion oil rig into disputed waters of the South China Sea in a potential re-run of a stand-off that sparked violent anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam in 2014.

But China insists the giant state-owned rig called Haiyang Shiyou 981 is still in its territorial waters and called on Vietnam to remain calm over the dispute.

China's decision to again tow the same rig from its shores as it did in 2014 comes at a highly sensitive time in Vietnam as the country's communist leaders gather for their five-yearly congress.

Carlyle Thayer, an expert on Vietnam and the South China Sea from Australia's Defence Force Academy, said China's move appeared ill-timed and counter-productive, possibly boosting support for the country's reforming communist leaders who have been locked in a bitter factional struggle with traditional old guard leaders, who are closer to Beijing.

In 2014 China's deployment of the rig about 120 nautical miles off Vietnam's coast led to the worst breakdown in relations between the neighbouring communist countries in decades.

Five people were killed and hundreds of Vietnamese factories owned by Chinese and other countries were looted and burned.

Chinese and Vietnamese vessels faced each other down near the rig the size of a football oval for months before it was removed.

Analysts said that dispute accelerated Vietnam's efforts to improve relations with the United States and other global powers.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry claims the deep-water rig was towed into disputed waters last Saturday and demanded that it be withdrawn.

But China's Foreign Ministry hit back, saying the rig is operating in "Chinese controlled waters that are completely undisputed."

"We hope the Vietnamese side can view this calmly, meet China half-way and jointly work hard to appropriately handle relevant maritime issues," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

The rig owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation is China's first domestically-built mobile drilling platform.

China's Maritime Safety Administration said it would be drilling 150 kilometres west of the Paracel Islands that China occupies and Vietnam claims until March 10.

The agency warned ships to stay clear of the area. .

Earlier in January Vietnam accused China of jeopardising the safety of civilian flights over the South China Sea by landing aircraft on an artificial island that China had constructed in a contested area.

China rejected the complaint, saying the planes landed within China's sovereign territory.

Also earlier in January the United States obtained final approval to expand its military presence in the Philippines in a move seen as countering China's claims in the flashpoint waters where there are overlapping territorial claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

The US has also begun making spy flights over the region in Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft based in Singapore, and Vietnam's new advanced Kilo-class submarines have begun patrols to reinforce that country's territorial claims.

The South China Sea is believed to be resource rich and goods worth more than US$5 trillion transit its strategic waterways each year.

By Lindsay Murdoch - The Sydney Morning Herald - January 21, 2016
 Vietnam says China's flights to South China Sea a threat to air safety urn:md5:a388de06ed7f7117f7b8e3381b8e1c48 2016-01-09T18:03:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaSpratly
Vietnam authorities claim 46 instances of Chinese planes flying unannounced through Vietnam's area of responsibility in first week of January

Vietnam's civil aviation regulators have accused China of jeopardizing regional air safety by flying aircraft to a disputed reef in the South China Sea.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam said unannounced flights "threaten the safety of all flights in the region", according to reports published in state-run media Saturday. It said it had filed a complaint with the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, and sent a protest letter to China's government.

"ICAO is responsible for supervising all civil aviation activities in the world, and we expect that it will issue warnings to China after it finds out about its violations," Vietnam's civil aviation director Lai Xuan Thanh subsequently said in a telephone interview.

China's foreign ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beijing on Wednesday said it had landed planes on a newly-built airstrip on an island at Fiery Cross Reef, part of the Spratly islands chain claimed by Vietnam and China, which also claims nearly the entire South China Sea as its territorial waters.

Vietnam, though, has been mandated by ICAO to supervise international air traffic through a large portion of the South China Sea known as the Ho Chi Minh City Flight Information Region, specifically tracking flights and providing alerts when needed. Aviation authorities were reported in state media as saying they had recorded 46 instances of Chinese planes flying without warning through Vietnam's area of responsibility in the first week of January, including the test flights to Fiery Cross Reef.

Mr. Thanh said Chinese planes flew onto the flight paths of several international commercial flights, though none had to change their routes as a result.

China's flights to Fiery Cross Reef mark a further escalation in the race among various claimants to the South China Sea to develop their presence on atolls and reefs in the area. Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan also occupy some geographical features there. In some instances, these include small garrisons and limited military facilities.

In recent years, China has moved to expand and upgrade its own outposts in the area, however, upsetting the status quo.

Vietnam has complained that the recent test flights to Fiery Cross Reef violate its territorial rights, while this week Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said China is on track to set up an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea that could limit free navigation of flights in the region. Such a move would also challenge Vietnam's supervisory role in parts of the South China Sea.

The U.S. has also criticized Beijing's flights to Fiery Cross Reef, with a Defense Department spokeswoman recently saying the test flights "are inconsistent with the region's commitments to exercise restraint from actions that could complicate or escalate disputes."

By Vu Trong Khanh - The Wall Street Journal - January 9, 2016
 Japan and Philippines join Vietnam in voicing anger over China 'test flight' in disputed islands urn:md5:6f758a0ea72af6f7fe7785df6f1eaeab 2016-01-05T08:16:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinamilitaryPhilippines
Flight to new airstrip in contested Spratly Islands is a sign of escalating tensions in the South China Sea

Japan and the Philippines have joined Vietnam in expressing anger at Beijing after a Chinese plane landed on an airstrip it constructed on a contested island in the South China Sea.

The Chinese "test flight" sparked a furious response from Vietnam and concern from Washington over the weekend, ratcheting up tensions over islands which have been artificially enlarged by China.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has been causing alarm among its neighbours as it builds up infrastructure on reefs in the disputed waters. The flight at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands "adds to tension and uncertainties in the region," said Charles Jose, Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, on Monday.

 Manila was considering protesting China's action, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Fumio Kishida, Japanese Foreign Minister, told a press conference on Monday that the flight was an attempt by China to make its island-building "a fait accompli," according to Japan's Kyodo news agency.

"Japan is gravely concerned about China's act, which is a unilateral change of the status quo," Mr Kishida said.

China has become increasingly assertive over its territorial claims in recent years and has been ramping up military spending.

Some observers say the airstrips being built in the South China Sea are capable of hosting military jets.

Hanoi had protested at the flight, labelling it a "a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam."

 John McCain, the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Obama administration was allowing China to continue to "pursue its territorial ambitions" by delaying "freedom of navigation" patrols near the islands.

Meanwhile, John Kirby, State Department spokesman, said China's flight test' "raises tensions and threatens regional stability". He also called on Asian countries involved in the islands' row to "halt land reclamation and further development of new facilities and militarisation on their outposts".

Beijing, however, denies the island building is aimed at boosting its military might, and Hua Chunying, foreign ministry spokeswoman, reiterated China's position that it had "indisputable sovereignty" to the Spratlys, which are called the Nansha Islands in China.

The spokeswoman also said a civil aircraft was used to conduct the test, and that China hoped it could continue "sustainable, healthy and stable" ties with Vietnam.

More than $5 trillion (£1.95 million) of world trade passes every year through the South China Sea, which is also said to hold huge deposits of gas.

Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also have rival claims to islands in the disputed waters.

By Neil Connor - The Telegrpah - January 5, 2015
 Chinese vessel sinks Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnam's waters urn:md5:767ef8f7d913ed768b9a782ff44dbdaa 2016-01-03T20:08:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinafishing
Vietnamese authorities have concluded that a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a local fishing boat in Vietnam's waters this week after hearing reports from the fishers aboard.

The damaged fishing boat QNg 98459, captained by Huynh Van Thach, with 10 crew members on board was hauled by a fellow boat steered by Huynh Bi to the border guard office in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang on Saturday.

A much bigger vessel intentionally crashed into QNg 98459 when the Vietnamese ship was fishing some 70 nautical miles (130km) off Con Co Island, administered by the central province of Quang Tri on Friday afternoon.

"While the crew members were sleeping, our boat was rammed by a king-size vessel with a blue hull, gray cabin, and Chinese letters written on its side," Captain Thach, who is from Quang Ngai, recounted.

The force of the first strike threw seven of the fishermen overboard, the captain said, adding that two men on the vessel, who were speaking a Chinese dialect, decided to hit the Vietnamese boat again despite his call for help.

The Chinese vessel ignored the fishermen and left after the attack, which damaged the boat's side and cabin, causing water to pour into its deck and all property to sink, Thach added.

The captain managed to contact Huynh Bi, who was fishing about five nautical miles away and arrived at the scene to offer assistance.

Another ship operating nearby also came to rescue the victims and helped bail water out of the boat to prevent it from completely submerging.

The fishermen had to wait until the waves eased to be able to tow the ship back to the mainland, with all the crew members safe and sound.

After hearing reports from the fishermen, Ha Le, deputy head of the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance, said that he had sent a notice to request China to clarify the incident.

Chinese authorities have responded that they are investigating the case and asked for an accurate code of the vessel.

Vietnamese officers have been assigned to work with the fishermen to identify the vessel responsible for the attack, Le said.

The incident was initially reported by the National Committee for Search and Rescue and updated by the fishermen after they were brought ashore, the official added.

Tuoi Tre News - January 3, 2015
 Vietnam could beat China on GDP growth in 2016 urn:md5:249d0a287ba09a1312286dde1f015a1b 2016-01-03T12:24:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinaeconomy
Vietnam's economy has the chance to expand at a faster pace than that of China in 2016, and what matters is whether the country can grab the opportunity, an economist has said.

A stronger growth than China's will also enable Vietnam to become East Asia and Southeast Asia's fastest-growing economy, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview published Saturday.

Vietnam posted a GDP growth of 6.68 percent in 2015, whereas China's economic growth is expected to cool from 7.3 percent in 2014 to 6.9 percent in 2015, its slowest pace in 25 years, according to the Chinese central bank.

"Vietnam is approaching near China on GDP growth, and the chance is the Chinese economy is also forecast to grow slower in 2016," Thanh said.

China's growth could ease further to 6.8 percent or 6.3 percent in 2016, according to respective forecasts by its central bank and Oxford Economics.

Thanh said China's growth this year could be only 6.4 percent, and many regional countries will be affected by the slowing Chinese economy, except for Vietnam.

"We have recently signed many free trade pacts, which are all going to take effect, and these trade accords will be great stepping stones for further economic growth if we know how to take advantage of them," he elaborated.

"In 2016 if Vietnam continues to be able to stabilize its macro-economy, the GDP can grow by 6.8-7 percent, which will enable the country to beat China on GDP growth for the first time since 1986."

Vietnam sets a GDP growth goal of 6.7 percent for 2016, according to a resolution approved by the lawmaking National Assembly in November 2015.

Thanh also expressed his belief that Vietnam will be able to maintain such a healthy economic growth for the next five years, if it can improve confidence of consumers and resolve difficulties of businesses.

"But in the longer term, Vietnam still has to launch a reform of economic institutions and economic restructuring to ensure a sustainable growth," he noted.

In 2015, Vietnam signed four significant trade pacts, which all help expand the country's export markets.

The deals include the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement with the U.S. and ten other nations in the Pacific Rim, the free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, and the trade accords with the Europe Union and South Korea.

The trade pact between Vietnam and South Korea came into effecton December 20, whereas both the trade deals with the EEU and EU are scheduled for implementation in 2018.

The TPP, meanwhile, is pending ratification by 12 member nations before entering into force. The process is expected to begin in Vietnam in mid-2016.

Thanh said such deals will help the country attract more foreign investment, both direct and indirect, in 2016.

"The improved global economy in 2016 will also leave positive impacts on Vietnam," he added.

Local businesses, particularly those operating in the manufacturing and production industries, will also have a chance to cut input costs if oil prices, as well as steel, food and other metal prices, remain low as in 2015, according to the economic expert.

However, Vietnam will still have to face several challenges in 2016, especially in the respect of banking, forex management and real-estate, he warned.

While Vietnam has exerted efforts to restructure the banking sector, what it has done so far is being able to ensure stable liquidity in a short term, Thanh said.

"Weak banks remain the biggest risk for the economy this year, and it is not likely that lending interest rates will be cut," he elaborated.

Tuoi Tre News - January 2, 2016
 South China Sea: Vietnam protests after China lands plane on disputed Spratlys urn:md5:d3159e86c962d35e1a16c3eae746d786 2016-01-03T12:12:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinamilitarySpratly
Vietnam has formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing has built on an artificial island in a contested part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the airfield had been "built illegally" on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, in territory that was "part of Vietnam's Spratlys".

China's Foreign Ministry rejected the complaint, saying that what was a test flight to the newly built airfield on the reef, which China calls Yongshu Jiao, was a matter "completely within China's sovereignty", the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States said it was concerned that the flight had exacerbated tensions.

Washington has criticised China's construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and worries that Beijing plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.

Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said there was "a pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarisation of disputed features".

"We encourage all claimants to actively reduce tensions by refraining from unilateral actions that undermine regional stability, and taking steps to create space for meaningful diplomatic solutions to emerge," she said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China used a civil aircraft to conduct the flight to test whether the airfield facilities meet civil aviation standards.

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side," she said, referring to the Spratlys by their Chinese name.

Ms Hua added that China hoped Vietnam could work to achieve "sustainable, healthy and stable" development of bilateral ties.

Hanoi's Foreign Ministry said Vietnam handed a protest note to China's embassy and asked China not to repeat the action.

It called the flight "a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago".

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and through which about $US5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and has been building up facilities on the islands it controls.

It completed an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef that security experts say could accommodate most Chinese military aircraft late last year.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims in the South China Sea.

By Ho Binh Minh - Reuters - January 3, 2016

China rejects Vietnam protest over test

China has rejected a protest from Vietnam over a flight test it has conducted on a new airstrip on a man-made island in the South China Sea, saying it is part of China's territory.

Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the test flight violated Vietnam's sovereignty, breached mutual understanding and hurt the bilateral relations.

"Vietnam resolutely protests Chinese above-said action and demand that China immediately stop, not repeat similar actions," he said in a statement.

In a response Saturday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the test flight on the newly built airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands was carried out to find out if the new airfield met the standards for civil aviation.

"Relevant activity falls completely within China's sovereignty," Hua said in a statement. "The Chinese side will not accept the unfounded accusations from the Vietnamese side."

China has become more assertive in pressing its claims to the South China Sea islands, an archipelago rich in natural resources that is the focal point of rival claims by neighbouring governments.

China has recently piled sand on coral reefs atop of which it built airfields, radar installations and docking facilities. As with most of its policy in the South China Sea, Beijing has remained opaque about its plans for the island airstrips.

Beijing insists its island building works are justified and don't constitute a threat to stability and freedom of navigation. The US and its regional allies have expressed concern that China's robust assertion of its claims has aggravated tensions.

Although Vietnam already has an airstrip in the Spratlys, it is just long enough to accommodate slow-moving cargo and surveillance planes. China's airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef is long enough for bombers capable of launching cruise missiles.

The Australian Associated Press - January 3, 2016
 Vietnam to post bigger trade deficits with China, other countries in 2015 urn:md5:11257076906594770fef7b024135686e 2015-12-27T10:34:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinaeconomyimports
Vietnam's trade deficit with China and several other countries are expected to widen in 2015, the latest customs data show.

The Southeast Asian country is forecast to log a US$32 billion deficit with China this year, compared to nearly $29 billion a year earlier, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Vietnam's monthly trade deficit with China was recorded at $2.6 billion over the last 11 months.

In the 11-month period, Vietnam's imports from China topped $44.99 billion, up $5.44 billion from a year earlier, whereas exports stood at $15.5 billion, an increase of $2 billion.

Customs data for the Jan-Nov period showed that Vietnam also reported negative trade balances with such countries as Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

The deficit with Japan in 11 months widened to $230 million, whereas last year Vietnam enjoyed a surplus of nearly $2 billion to the East Asian country.

Vietnam's Jan-Nov deficit with South Korea also jumped $4 billion from the same period last year to $17.28 billion.

Vietnam also posted negative trade balance with the ASEAN market, with consists of ten Southeast Asian countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

In the 11-month period, Vietnam suffered a $5.6 billion deficit with the ASEAN, while the last year figure was $4 billion.

The deficit with Thailand in 11 months was $4.2 billion, up $1.23 billion from a year earlier.

As of the middle of this month, Vietnam's trade deficit topped $3.5 billion, while it enjoyed positive trade balances in the last three consecutive years.

The figure, however, was much lower than the $6 billion trade deficit forecast for Vietnam during a meeting of trade sector last year, according to The Saigon Times Online

Tuoi Tre News - December 26, 2015
 Inside Vietnam's military modernization urn:md5:2d06e292e8a97499a2f482a5374f199c 2015-12-19T20:31:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinamilitary
Vietnam has embarked on its biggest military build-up in decades in an attempt to deter a rising China.

Hanoi's battle-hardened military atrophied after the Vietnam War amid broader economic woes and the collapse of its Cold War patron, the Soviet Union. Following are key purchases and plans according to Reuters reporting, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the International Institute of Strategic Studies and Vietnamese state media:

NAVY

Vietnamese crews, supported by Russian advisors, operate four Russian-made, Kilo-class submarines from a purpose-built base in Cam Ranh Bay in south-central Vietnam.

Another two submarines are expected to arrive in 2016 and the entire fleet is expected to be fully operational by 2017. The Vietnamese 636.3MV Kilos are equipped with both anti-ship and land attack variants of the Klub cruise missile, heavy torpedoes and mines.

Vietnam is also acquiring Russian-designed ships equipped with anti-ship missiles and other weapons. The fleet currently includes 2 Gepard frigates, 6 corvettes and 18 fast-attack missile boats. New vessels will have enhanced anti-submarine weapons.

Less visibly, Vietnam has strengthened its coastal defenses with anti-ship artillery batteries and the mobile Bastion K-300P system, equipped with Orynx cruise missiles. The Orynx can also be fired from ships, planes and submarines.

Foreign security experts say Vietnam has made it potentially costly for China's navy to operate within 200-300 nautical miles of its coast - an ability it did not have a decade ago.

This may be further boosted by a future deal to buy the Indian-Russian produced BrahMos missile, a supersonic anti-ship weapon that is the world's fastest cruise missile. Chinese analysts say Beijing's reclaimed islands in the South China Sea will give it extra protection against Vietnam's strength from its southern coast.

AIR FORCE

Vietnam operates an expanding fleet of 30 Russian-supplied Su-30 MK2 fighter-bombers, which patrols its military bases over the Spratlys. Hanoi also has older squadrons of Su-27s and even older Russian craft.

Though far outnumbered by China's air force, which includes similar planes, Hanoi's military chiefs have upgraded and expanded air defenses. It has obtained Israeli AD-STAR 2888 early warning radars and Russian-built S-300 surface-to-air missile batteries.

Vietnam had extensive experience in using earlier Russian-built systems to shoot down U.S. jet fighters and B-52 bombers over northern Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Hanoi is also in talks with European and U.S. arms manufacturers to buy additional fighter jets, maritime patrol planes and unarmed surveillance drones.

ARMY

Vietnam maintains a conscript-based force of an estimated 450,000 troops.

It has recently started manufacturing Israeli rifles under license, and also used Israeli and European technological help to refit up to 850 Russian T-59 and T-55 tanks.

Parliament this year passed laws lengthening compulsory military service from 18 months to two years, as well as extending deferments to allow more university students to serve after completing their studies.

By Greg Torode - Reuters - December 18, 2015
 Vietnam builds military muscle to face China urn:md5:1766641dc26f9c3585972dd825faa240 2015-12-17T20:51:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english Chinamilitary
Vietnam's military is steeling itself for conflict with China as it accelerates a decade-long modernization drive, Hanoi's biggest arms buildup since the height of the Vietnam War.

The ruling Communist Party's goal is to deter its giant northern neighbor as tensions rise over the disputed South China Sea, and if that fails, to be able to defend itself on all fronts, senior officers and people close to them told Reuters.

Vietnam's strategy has moved beyond contingency planning. Key units have been placed on "high combat readiness" - an alert posture to fend off a sudden attack - including its elite Division 308, which guards the mountainous north.

The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1979. The likely flashpoint this time is in the South China Sea, where they have rival claims in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.

"We don't want to have a conflict with China and we must put faith in our policy of diplomacy," one senior Vietnamese government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "But we know we must be ready for the worst."

Most significantly, Hanoi is creating a naval deterrent largely from scratch with the purchase of six advanced Kilo-class submarines from Russia.

In recent months, the first of those submarines have started patrolling the South China Sea, Vietnamese and foreign military officials said, the first confirmation the vessels have been in the strategic waterway.

DIVISION 308

Militarily, the tensions are palpable northwest of Hanoi at the headquarters of Division 308, Vietnam's most elite military unit, where senior army officers talk repeatedly about "high combat readiness".

The phrase is on billboards beneath images of missiles and portraits of Vietnam's late revolutionary founder, Ho Chi Minh, and its legendary military hero, General Vo Nguyen Giap.

Perched between Vietnam's craggy northern mountains and the ancient rice paddies of the Red River Delta, 308 is Vietnam's oldest division and still effectively guards the northern approaches to Hanoi.

Reflecting deep-set official sensibilities towards offending Beijing, one senior officer, Colonel Le Van Hai, said he could not talk about China. But Vietnam was ready to repel any foreign force, he told Reuters during a rare visit by a foreign reporter.

"Combat readiness is the top priority of the division, of the Ministry of Defense and the country. We can deal with any sudden or unexpected situation ... We are ready," he said.

"High combat readiness", along with references to the "new situation", increasingly feature in lectures by senior officers during visits to military bases and in publications of the People's Army of Vietnam. The phrases also surface in talks with foreign military delegations, diplomats said.

"When Vietnam refers to the 'new situation', they are using coded language to refer to the rising likelihood of an armed confrontation or clash with China, particularly in the South China Sea," said Carl Thayer, a professor at Australia's Defense Force Academy in Canberra who has studied Vietnam's military since the late 1960s.

While ramping up combat readiness, Hanoi's once-reclusive generals are reaching out to a broad range of strategic partners. Russia and India are the main source of advanced weapons, training and intelligence cooperation. Hanoi is also building ties with the United States and its Japanese, Australian and Filipino allies, as well as Europe and Israel.

The outreach covers weapons purchases, ship visits and intelligence sharing but will have its limits. Hanoi shuns formal military alliances under a staunchly independent foreign policy.

Vietnam is seeking more Russian jet fighter-bombers and is in talks with European and U.S. arms manufacturers to buy fighter and maritime patrol planes and unarmed surveillance drones, sources have told Reuters. It has also recently upgraded and expanded air defenses, including obtaining early warning surveillance radars from Israel and advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile batteries from Russia.

Indeed, increases in Vietnam's military spending have outstripped its South East Asian neighbors over the last decade, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

"They are not doing this for national day parades ... they are building real military capabilities," said Tim Huxley, a regional security expert at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Singapore.

OIL RIG FLASHPOINT

While communist parties rule both Vietnam and China and share political bonds, the two countries have a history marked by armed conflict and long periods of lingering mistrust.

Fresh academic research has revealed how the Sino-Vietnamese war in 1979 was more intense than is widely known, rumbling on into the mid-1980s. The two sides then clashed at sea in 1988 when China occupied its first holdings in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea - a defeat still acutely felt in Hanoi.

China also took full control of another South China Sea island chain, the Paracels, after a naval showdown with then South Vietnam in 1974. Hanoi still protests China's occupation.

More recently, China's placement of an oil rig in disputed waters for 10 weeks in the middle of last year sparked anti-Chinese riots across Vietnam.

The rig's placement on Vietnam's continental shelf 80 nautical miles from its coast was a game-changer, officials in Hanoi privately said, hardening suspicions about Chinese President Xi Jinping among political and military leaders.

Hanoi dispatched dozens of Vietnamese civilian vessels to confront the 70 coastguard and naval warships China sent to protect the oil rig in mid-2014.

"It was a reminder to all of us just how dangerous the South China Sea has become," said one retired U.S. naval officer.

For its part, China's military strategists have long been frustrated at the two dozen military outposts that Hanoi has fortified across the Spratlys since losing the Paracels in 1974, Chinese analysts say. China is building three air strips on man-made islands it is building on reefs in the Spratlys that it took from Vietnamese forces in 1988.

A statement to Reuters from China's Defense Ministry said the two militaries had close, friendly relations and China was willing to work hard with Vietnam for regional peace.

"Both sides have frank exchanges of view on the South China Sea ... both sides should look for a basic, lasting solution both sides can accept," the statement said.

China's historic claim to most of the South China Sea, expressed on maps as a nine-dash line, overlaps the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Taiwan also has claims in the area.

Some $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes through the waterway every year, including most of the oil imported by China, Japan and South Korea.

'PSYCHOLOGICAL UNCERTAINTY'

The importance to China of protecting its submarine base on Hainan Island - the projected home of its future nuclear armed submarine fleet - could be another flashpoint. Beijing also has jet fighters and many of its best warships stationed around Hainan Island. This South Sea Fleet is close to Vietnam's northern coast and its vital deep water access channels to the South China Sea and beyond.

Vietnamese generals make clear to foreign visitors they know their limitations. Two decades of double-digit increases in defense budgets have given China a vastly larger and better equipped navy, air force and army.

Foreign military envoys say they struggle to gauge Vietnam's actual capabilities and how well they are integrating complex new weapons. They are given little access beyond Hanoi's gilded staterooms.

Vietnamese military strategists talk of creating a "minimal credible deterrent" – raising the costs of any Chinese move against Vietnam, whether it is a naval confrontation or an attack across the 1,400-km (875-mile) northern land border.

If conflict did break out, Hanoi could target Chinese-flagged merchant container and oil ships in the South China Sea, said Thayer, who said he was told this by Vietnamese strategists.

The aim would be not to defeat China's superior forces but "to inflict sufficient damage and psychological uncertainty to cause Lloyd's insurance rates to skyrocket and for foreign investors to panic", Thayer said in a paper presented to a Singapore conference last month.

Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

By Greg Torode - Reuters - December 17, 2015
 Why Vietnam's foreign policy won't change after Its party congress urn:md5:212623a44e47bce26ed5eed285521e33 2015-12-10T20:18:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english ChinaCommunist Partydiplomacy
Exploring myths and misconceptions regarding Vietnam's approach to China and the United States.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) is poised to hold its thirteenth plenary session this month. According to informed insiders, this will be crunch time for selecting candidates for Vietnam's top leadership posts – party secretary general, state president, prime minister, and chair of the National Assembly.

Once the plenum concludes, preparations for the twelfth national party congress, reportedly scheduled for January 7-9, will go into high gear. There are an unprecedented number of individuals vying for these top posts. Although there is uncertainty as to who will be the next party leader, political insiders predict there will be no major changes in Vietnam's foreign policy and relations with the major powers.

Two recent reports offer contrasting views of Vietnam's relations with China and the United States in the coming years. The first report, written by Joshua Kurlantzick for the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, is entitled "A China-Vietnam Military Clash." This report was summarized in The Diplomat.

The second report was authored by veteran BBC journalist Bill Hayton for the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney's Emerging U.S. Security Partnerships in South-East Asia project. It is entitled, "Vietnam and the United States: An Emerging Security Partnership."

According to Kurlantzick:

The risk of a military confrontation between China and Vietnam is rising… growing sources of friction could lead to a serious military confrontation between the two countries in the next twelve to eighteen months, with potentially serious consequences for the United States.

Hayton, in contrast, notes that although bilateral relations have been frayed by disputes in the South China Sea, leaders in both Vietnam and China have "quarantined" them from their overall relationship. Hayton concludes by noting that in 2015, relations between China and Vietnam were calm, with both sides managing public opinion. In addition "trade continues to boom and tourist arrivals, suspended during the 2014 crisis, are back up."

Kurlantzick's study explores three potential scenarios that could lead to a military clash between China and Vietnam – escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, a shooting incident along the land border, and unintended naval or air interactions arising from military exercises between Vietnam and its new strategic partners.

While the potential for a military clash between China and Vietnam cannot be discounted entirely, the evidence advanced by Kurlantzick is not persuasive.

For example, in his first scenario Kurlantzick points to the deployment of oil drilling platforms in disputed waters, ship ramming incidents, and tit-for-tat "land reclamation" as potential triggers for conflict.

There have been only two major incidents involving the deployment of oil drilling platforms, one in the late 1990s and the other in 2014. Vietnam deployed military vessels during the first incident but both sides quickly defused the situation. The 2014 stand-off demonstrated restraint by both sides. Vietnam let it be known publicly that it would not deploy military vessels and China held its navy ships in reserve.

Hayton opines that if China placed an oil rig or quasi-military structure on Vanguard Bank, "Vietnam would probably be compelled to take dramatic action." In contrast to Kurlantzick, Hayton concludes that this hypothetical scenario "is highly unlikely to take the form of military confrontation. The object would be to oblige China to retreat without rupturing relations."

Ship ramming and the use of high-powered water cannons quickly became a stylized form of confrontation that was kept controlled by both sides in 2014. Over the last half-decade there have been a number of reports that Vietnamese civilian maritime law enforcement vessels may have rammed Chinese fishing boats (and vice versa).

The Vietnamese media recently reported several incidents of Chinese harassment of Vietnamese civilian vessels bringing supplies to personnel on Truong Sa and Song Tu Tay islands. The most serious incident took place on November 13 when a Chinese warship unsheathed its 37mm gun and pointed it at the Vietnamese supply vessel while ten uniformed personnel armed with assault rifles took aim. The Vietnamese supply vessel retreated.

A spokesperson for Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that "Vietnam vehemently opposes the use or threat to use force against its vessels." Kurlantzick argues that this type of press conference "should be seen as a general sign of rising bilateral tensions." These incidents, however, have been relatively isolated affairs and statements by Vietnamese officials should be viewed as a ritualized stock response.

Kurlantzick's assertion that "Vietnam has responded forcefully" to Chinese "land reclamation" by initiating its own "land reclamation" is not accurate. According to Mira Rapp-Hooper, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Vietnam likely began its land reclamation before China began its own projects last year. Vietnam's "land reclamation" has been very modest indeed and shows no sign of being part of an action-reaction cycle.

Kurlantzick's second scenario is similarly questionable. He claims that, "the China-Vietnam land border has become increasingly tense as security forces on both sides have traded fire at least twice in 2014 and 2015." He quickly admits that "the reasons for these incidents remain unclear." Precisely. During the May stand-off over China's deployment of the HD 981 oil platform in disputed waters, long queues formed at the China-Vietnam border as porters carried in-season lychees for sale in Chinese markets. The Sino-Vietnam border is stable and there have been no recent signs of tension of the type suggested by Kurlantzick.

Kurlantzick's third scenario — unintended interactions involving military exercises between Vietnam and its new strategic partners — misrepresents actual developments. Vietnam has not and is unlikely to engage in military exercises — strictly defined an as exchange of combat skills — with its strategic partners.

Kurlantzick's use of the term "strategic partners" skews its meaning well beyond what Vietnam and its strategic partners understand by this term.

Kurlantzick also includes Vietnam's strategic partnerships among his four strategic early warning indicators of likely conflict. For example, he states that Vietnam's announcement of a strategic partnership with another Asian nation "should be seen as a potential sign of rising tensions between Beijing and Hanoi."

Vietnam's strategic partnerships are not defense or military agreements. They are comprehensive, multifaceted documents that include political, diplomatic, economic, science and technology, cultural, and people-to-people cooperation. They all include a brief paragraph on defense and security cooperation involving high-level visits, information exchanges, port visits, and the like.

Both China and Vietnam have concluded strategic partnership agreements with the same countries. Indonesia is a prime example.

Vietnam conducts naval engagement activities – as opposed to military exercises – with the United States, such as executing the voluntary Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea. Vietnam also conducts low-level search and rescue exercises with foreign states. At the same time, Vietnam and China conduct joint naval patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin every six months. These have included search and rescue drills.

Hayton's monograph provides a useful condensed summary of Vietnam-China military-to-military cooperation. Hayton quotes Colonel Tran Dang Thanh, an instructor at Vietnam's Ministry of Defense Political Academy, as arguing that that the only way to preserve peace and stability with China "was to avoid confrontation and preserve feelings of solidarity between the people of Vietnam and China."

In summary, the balance of historical evidence suggests that China and Vietnam have been extremely careful to mitigate the risk of accidental clashes between their military forces. China and Vietnam have and will continue to manage potential flashpoints. Indeed, it is instructive to refer to data in Bill Hayton's monograph that provides details on 15 meetings and exchanges between Chinese and Vietnamese military officials since the 2014 oil rig crisis.

Hayton also addresses the issues of strategic partnerships in his analysis of U.S.-Vietnam relations. But here too several misunderstandings have crept in. For example, Hayton states that "a 'comprehensive strategic partnership' is "the highest level in Vietnam's diplomatic lexicon" and Vietnam has accorded that status only to China and Russia. In fact, relations with China are designated a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership" – the highest level in Vietnam's diplomatic vocabulary. Russia remains a comprehensive strategic partner.

Hayton also notes that both Australia and the United States are at the bottom of the hierarchy as comprehensive partners. In fact it was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who first proposed a strategic partnership to Vietnam. This implied closer military and defense ties than Vietnam was willing to accept. In 2013 both sides stepped back from discussions on a strategic partnership and agreed to become comprehensive partners instead.

Prior to this, Australia's former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rejected Vietnam's offer of a strategic partnership on the grounds that it was mainly symbolic and that defense ties with Vietnam lacked the intimacy of Australia's defense relations with other "strategic partners."

Hayton concludes his analysis with a belated consideration of Vietnam's other strategic partners – India, Japan and Russia – and implies that Vietnam's policy of diversifying its external relations is a recent development.

In June 1991, the seventh national congress of the VCP endorsed a policy of diversifying and multilateralizing Vietnam's economic relations with all countries and said that "Vietnam wants to become the friend of all countries in the world community… regardless of different socio-political systems." Vietnam gave priority to relations with the Soviet Union, Laos, Cambodia, China, Cuba and (significantly) "new friends" – Southeast Asia, Western Europe, Japan, and the United States.

A decade later, in April 2001, Vietnam's ninth national party congress affirmed that "Vietnam wants to be a friend and a reliable partner to all nations" by diversifying and multilateralilzing its international relations. Over the last decade and a half Vietnam has pursued this objective as its bedrock strategic foreign policy framework.

Kurlantzick ends his study with seven recommendations on how the United States could mitigate the threat of armed conflict between China and Vietnam. Hayton concludes by suggesting that the United States could prompt Vietnam to be a more active strategic partner by paying greater respect to its one-party political system. Both authors fail to grasp the larger multilateral framework of Vietnam's foreign policy that includes, in addition to China and the United States, Russia, India, Japan, Europe, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

In summary, Vietnam will continue to pursue a policy of multi-polar balancing – diversification and multilateralization of relations – rather than a narrower policy of balancing relations between China and the United States in the years following the twelfth party congress.

By Carl Thayer - The Diplomat - December 8, 2015
 Discretion pays for Vietnam casino raking in wealthy Chinese urn:md5:9c3fe4282ec7f85b367ae557b6bffa42 2015-12-07T08:25:00+01:00 Vietnam aujourd'hui News in english casinoChina
A small beachfront Vietnamese casino is giving Macau's VIP gambling scene a run for its money, drawing in more wealthy Chinese through its columned facade than many Southeast Asian rivals with the allure of sun, sand and discretion.

Few outside Danang have heard of the Crown International Games Club, a privately owned casino located along this rapidly developing city's main resort strip and which over the past year has emerged as the most exciting place for wealthy Chinese to drop bets worth at least HK$1 million ($129,030).

The popularity of this low-profile casino among the world's most prolific gamblers coincides with the waning fortunes of bigger, more famous rivals such as the opulent Wynn Macau and Grand Lisboa in Macau as a Chinese government crackdown on corruption and conspicuous spending batters the world's biggest gambling industry.

"This is a test case of a casino going under the radar that is doing extremely well," said Ben Lee, managing partner at Asian gaming consultancy IGamiX. "There is no other destination I know where the junket and casino organize 25 charter flights a week from China."

Crown's lack of renown can be put down to the Vietnamese government's reluctance to promote Danang as a destination for gambling, an activity which remains restricted to foreigners in this conservative, Communist country which maintains a rigid stance on social order.

Owned by Chinese businessman Hui Kong, Crown is one of seven licensed casinos in Vietnam, already a popular destination for many Chinese tourists.

Its main gaming area - plushly decked out in beige and gold - and 13 VIP rooms are about a quarter the size of an average Macau casino, but industry executives estimate monthly VIP turnover has increased over the past year to $3 billion a month, a figure at least double what larger rivals such as Solaire in the Philippines, NagaCorp in Cambodia and Genting Highlands in Malaysia rake in.

Crown executives declined to give any financial details.

"Right now many people come here mostly to gamble," said James Yang, marketing director at the luxury Crowne Plaza which flanks the casino. The hotel, managed by the Intercontinental Hotels Group, caters to its mainly Chinese guests by providing a sauna, a karaoke parlor and Mandarin-speaking staff.

The resort complex, already Danang's largest, will also double the number of its rooms as part of a $600 million redevelopment plan that includes opening a JW Marriott-branded hotel, a duty free shopping mall and an expansion of the casino.

NOT JUST PUNTS

Several companies are also betting on Vietnam, which analysts say could become a major Southeast Asian casino hub if it allows locals to gamble. Augustine Ha Ton Vinh, a professor who advises the government on the gambling industry, said this restriction is likely to come up for debate next year.

Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and VinaCapital are building an up to $4 billion casino resort in central Quang Nam province which is due to open by 2018, while the Ho Tram, a casino backed by U.S. hedge fund Harbinger Capital, is expanding its premises on a beach a two-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City.

So far, Chinese are the biggest client base for Vietnam's casinos and Crown, like its peers in Macau, works with junket operators, typically companies which loan credit to VIP gamblers and help them bypass China's currency controls.

At least 10 of these junkets are now only focusing on Danang, industry executives say, as the slump in Macau's gaming industry pushes their business model to the brink of collapse.

"Customers like the environment here much better," said junket operator Hugo Huang as he sipped fresh coconut juice inside a private dining room adjacent to the casino. "We have beautiful beaches, cultural sites and it's very easy for Chinese to feel comfortable."

Huang, who also runs VIP rooms in Macau and Cambodia, charters two flights a week from China to Danang. Last month, he flew in 100 VIP gamblers from China for a golf tournament, capping off the trip with a gala dinner and pop music concert.

Playing up all the leisure activities Danang has to offer fits in with the government's drive to rebrand the former wartime outpost for U.S. soldiers into a tourist destination for all.

"At the moment, we are positioning ourselves as a leisure, beach and meeting and conferencing destination," said Nguyen Xuan Binh, director of Danang's tourism promotion office.

Asked about Crown, with its impossible-to-miss glitzy facade and elaborate fountains, Binh said he had never heard of it.

By Farah Master - Reuters - December 8,2015