Tag: Vietnam

China building border walls with Vietnam, Myanmar to keep people out
Asia, China, Conflict

China building border walls with Vietnam, Myanmar to keep people out

In a move which could lead to conflicts, China has decided to reinforce border walls with its South-East Asian neighbours - Vietnam and Myanmar."It looks like a national program," South-East Asia expert and emeritus professor Carl Thayer of UNSW Canberra said.According to Chinese state media Xinhua, the project in Vietnam involves a 4.5-metre-high iron fence, topped with barbed wire, along the Beilun River. Built between 2012 and 2017, the $29 million project reportedly stretches 12 kilometres, and is there to curb the smuggling of goods, drugs and people.Meanwhile, media reports suggest that a 659-kilometre-long fence has been completed along China's 2,000-kilometre border with Myanmar in December, in between China's Yunnan province and Myanmar's northern Shan State.While Global Times has...
The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River
Opinion

The struggle for the soul of the Mekong River

In June of this year, a Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world's most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, researchers at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimate that the contribution accounts for a quarter of the world's freshwater catch. This inland fishery is critical to the food security of tens of millions living in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and is fuelled by the Mekong River's natural flow cycle.Typically, the Mekong transitions like clockwork around July from the dry season period of relatively low flow to an extreme wet season pulse bringing floodwaters that nourish the entirety of the basin.Each year, this flood pulse drives water from the Mekong up
US signs MoU to support Vietnamese fishermen against Chinese ‘Intimidation’
World

US signs MoU to support Vietnamese fishermen against Chinese ‘Intimidation’

In another setback for China resulting out of its aggressive behaviour in claiming the South China Sea, the United States and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support Vietnamese fishermen against Chinese intimidation.The MOU, which aims to strengthen Vietnam's fisheries management and law enforcement capabilities, came after the US released statements affirming its stance in supporting Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam in disputes with China at sea."Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal states in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion, and replace international law with 'might makes right'," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.China and Vietnam have been lock...
Water wars: Mekong River another front in U.S.-China rivalry
World

Water wars: Mekong River another front in U.S.-China rivalry

With Beijing overtaking Washington in both spending and influence over downstream countries, the Mekong River has become a new front in the U.S.-China rivalry, according to environmentalists and officials.It’s a confrontation in which the Donald Trump administration is losing ground.The two powers’ struggle recently moved into the realm of science — with the U.S. and Chinese governments each touting different reports about whether China’s 11 dams on the river were harming nations downstream.China’s dams have given it extensive control of the waters that flow down to Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, which have long depended on the river for agriculture and fisheries and it is this control that enables China to exclude the United States from a role after decades of promoting Me
As relations with US deteriorate, China seeks to improve relations with Vietnam
Politics

As relations with US deteriorate, China seeks to improve relations with Vietnam

As relations with the United States continues to worsen every day, China has moved to improve its relations with Vietnam and other South East Asian neighbors.According to media reports, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sought to placate an increasingly hostile Hanoi in a virtual meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh. This came a day after his deputy, Luo Zhaohui, tried to reassure China's neighbors that it wanted regional peace and stability.Beijing also said it finalized talks for a free-trade pact with Cambodia.China's state run Global Times reported that the 12th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation was held via video link on July 21.Wang was quoted as saying that since the COVID-19 outbreak, China and Vietnam have given full play to...
Indian Americans protestors urge global powers to economically decouple from Beijing
World

Indian Americans protestors urge global powers to economically decouple from Beijing

Dozens of demonstrators from the Indian American community on July 19 took to the streets in Washington and called out Beijing’s acts of aggression to dominate the region and urged global powers, including the United States as well as India to economically decouple from China.Wearing face masks, demonstrators stood outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington holding placards which read: "China=#Bullying #Debt Trap Diplomacy #Human Rights Violation #Colonialism #Animal Cruelty #Virus".Some of them were also heard shouting "Communist party! Down down! Chinese aggression! Down down".Manoj Srinarayan, one among the protestors and president of local Keralite group, said, "China has been perpetrating these acts of aggression against the Indian troops on the border for a while now. In the short ter
Philippines warns China of ‘severest response’ over drills in South China Sea
Politics

Philippines warns China of ‘severest response’ over drills in South China Sea

Philippines has warned of “the severest response” if ongoing Chinese military exercises in the disputed South China Sea spill over into Philippine territory.Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said, “China’s People’s Liberation Army has been staging exercises off the Paracel Islands since July 1 and Chinese maritime officials have prohibited all vessels from navigating within the area of the maneuvers.”After checking the coordinates of the Chinese-declared no-entry zone where the maneuvers were being staged, Locsin said the waters off the Paracels, which are also claimed by Vietnam, “do not impinge on Philippine territory” but it was still a concern.“Should the exercises spill over to Philippine territory, then China is forewarned that it will be met with the severest response, diplomatic
Vietnam grounds all Pakistani pilots over dubious license scandal
World

Vietnam grounds all Pakistani pilots over dubious license scandal

Amid global concerns that some Pakistani pilots may have been using “dubious” licenses, the Vietnam’s aviation authority on June 29 decided to ground all Pakistani pilots working for local airlines.The Pakistan government in the same month had said that it would ground 262 airline pilots whose credentials may have been falsified, after global airlines body IATA said that irregularities found in pilot licenses at in Pakistan represent a “serious lapse” in safety controls.“The head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has ordered a suspension for all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines,” the CAAV said in a statement.The suspension will be in effect until further notice from CAAV, it said, adding that the authority was coordinating with Pakistani authorities to revie
SP  ASEAN takes position against China’s vast historical sea claims
China

SP ASEAN takes position against China’s vast historical sea claims

Opposing China’s claim to the South China Sea, Southeast Asian leaders have said that a 1982 U.N. oceans treaty should be the basis of sovereign rights and entitlements in the strategic waters.“We reaffirmed that the 1982 UNCLOS is the basis for determining maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction and legitimate interests over maritime zones,” the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took the position in a statement issued by Vietnam on behalf of the 10-nation bloc.The ASEAN leaders were referring to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an international agreement that defines the rights of nations to the world’s oceans and demarcates stretches of waters called exclusive economic zones where coastal states are given the rig
South-east Asian nations warn of ‘alarming’ South China Sea incidents amid COVID-19 pandemic
Asia

South-east Asian nations warn of ‘alarming’ South China Sea incidents amid COVID-19 pandemic

At an ASEAN meeting on Friday, Vietnam and the Philippines warned of growing insecurity in Southeast Asia amid concerns that China was stepping up its activity in the disputed South China Sea during the coronavirus pandemic.Both Hanoi and Manila lodged protests with China in April after Beijing unilaterally declared the creation of new administrative districts on islands in the troubled waterways to which Vietnam and the Philippines also have competing claims."Even as our region struggles to contain Covid-19, alarming incidents in the South China Sea occurred," Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told an online meeting of Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) leaders."We call on parties to refrain from escalating tensions and abide by responsibilities under international law," h...