The continuing conflict in Europe between Russia and Ukraine has stoked fears of tensions in the Asia-Pacific region pursuing the same path as tensions increase between China and the US over the issues of the South China Sea and Taiwan.
In the case of the former, it’s often overlooked how Vietnam actually has the largest number of occupied reefs in the disputed area, more than any other claimant, including China. Yet, the US continues to vilify China as an aggressor while keeping its silence about Vietnam’s actions in the contested waters.
As the Obama administration was about to step down, the US President announced his pivot to Asia strategy, along with a new trade partnership, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which had Vietnam at the forefront.
Vietnam was going to be the new factory to the US to replace China and also supply goods to the other developed countries in the trade alliance. However, it didn’t materialize after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election of 2016. Trump maintained a policy of non-interference and non-aggression but he did impose trade sanctions on China and also questioned the trade practices of Vietnam, particularly products bound for the US.
Since Trump’s defeat in 2020 and the election of Joe Biden as US President, the Americans have again gone back to the pivot to Asia strategy. It’s clear that the US is out to get Vietnam as China’s replacement and have US companies establish manufacturing operations to continue to supply Americans with goods currently produced in China.
It is for this reason that the US has put Vietnam in a position to use as a leverage against China, not only economically but also for them to become allies in the region to counter what the US sees as the Chinese threat in the region and a convenient ally in the event that hostilities breakout between the US and China over Taiwan.
The US has also been deafly silent about Vietnam’s moves in the South China Sea. According to the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative island tracker, “Vietnam occupies between 49 and 51 outposts, the status of two construction projects on Cornwallis South Reef is unclear, spread across 27 features in the South China Sea. These include facilities built on 21 rocks and reefs in the Spratly Islands, along with 14 isolated platforms known as “economic, scientific, and technological service stations,” or Dịch vụ-Khoa (DK1), on six underwater banks to the southeast that Hanoi does not consider part of the disputed island chain, though Beijing and Taipei do. In recent years, Vietnam has reclaimed new land at 8 of the 10 rocks it occupies, and built out many of its smaller outposts on submerged reefs and banks.”
In contrast, the same tracker shows “China has 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands and 7 in the Spratlys. It also controls Scarborough Shoal, which it seized in 2012, via a constant coast guard presence, though it has not built any facilities on the feature. Since 2013, China has engaged in unprecedented dredging and artificial island-building in the Spratlys, creating 3,200 acres of new land, along with a substantial expansion of its presence in the Paracels.”
The US continues to make overtures to Vietnam with the visit of Vice-President Kamala Harris shortly after the Biden administration took office. The US wants to develop a new economic and military relationship with Vietnam in the hope that it can get it to its side against China and again be allowed to utilize its former military bases in Da Nang and Cam Ranh Bay, which would give it access not only to the South China Sea, but also the Indian Ocean.
What is clear is the US continues to exercise economic and military hegemony in the region. The US Navy Pacific Command has been renamed to the Indo-Pacific Command and there is a higher concentration of warships operating in and around the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. This only serves to keep tensions high and the risks of a conflict even higher as the US moves to control the region through its actual and perceived allies.
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