China has intensified regional tensions by initiating live-fire military exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin just days after Vietnam asserted its maritime claims. The drills, announced by China’s Maritime Safety Administration on Monday, will continue through Thursday near the Beibu Gulf. This move follows Vietnam’s establishment of a new baseline to define its territorial waters under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Vietnam’s state-run media emphasized the baseline provides a robust legal basis for safeguarding sovereignty, though the country has yet to formally respond to China’s drills. The two nations share a decades-old agreement on the Gulf of Tonkin but remain locked in disputes over the South China Sea, including the Spratly and Paracel Islands.
China’s actions signal a pattern of escalating assertiveness,said regional analysts, referencing October’s violent clash where three Vietnamese fishermen suffered broken limbs near the Paracels.
Key flashpoints in the South China Sea involve overlapping claims with:
- The Philippines
- Malaysia
- Brunei
- Taiwan
Recent confrontations include a Chinese helicopter flying perilously close to a Philippine patrol aircraft near Scarborough Shoal. Australia and New Zealand also criticized China’s abrupt live-fire drills near their waters last week, which disrupted air traffic with minimal advance notice.
China’s nine-dash line claim—vaguely demarcating its South China Sea territory—remains a persistent source of friction. While the Gulf of Tonkin agreement once eased tensions, experts warn these drills risk destabilizing fragile diplomatic progress as regional nations bolster defense partnerships with Western allies.
