In January, Vietnam and the Philippines inked a maritime agreement to boost cooperation between their two coast guards to forestall incidents in the disputed South China Sea, of which China claims almost the entirety of it.
The two MOUs were proclaimed during a state visit to Hanoi by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and are aimed at strengthening the understanding, mutual trust, and confidence between the two parties. Notably, the deals covered incident prevention in the South China Sea and maritime cooperation among coast guards.
Additionally, Marcos and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong also agreed to enhance maritime cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs at the deputy-minister level. Both countries will also bolster communication between coast guard commands and employ other measures to ensure the safety and security of fishermen from both countries, as well as to amicably resolve any unexpected incidents at sea. They also agreed to enhance trade and investment and signed a key deal on rice.
Marcos announced that Vietnam was “the sole strategic partner of the Philippines” in Southeast Asia, underscoring that maritime cooperation was the foundation of that relationship.
Likewise, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said Marcos’s visit had helped boost bilateral relations. “The world and regional situation is evolving in a rapid and complicated manner and therefore we need to unite and cooperate more closely,” he said.
The Philippines and Vietnam and both members of ASEAN, which has been trying to determine a code of conduct with China for the South China Sea dispute for years without success. Recent clashes between China and the Philippines, particularly China’s blockade of the Philippines-controlled Second Thomas Shoal, have sounded the alarm to countries like Vietnam, with a vested interest in the South China Sea dispute, to the risk of a possible face-off with China.
To address its claims alongside Chinese actions in the contested waters, the Philippines has looked to boost its alliance with the U.S., such as securing a pledge from Washington to regard any Chinese attacks against Philippine vessels or aircraft as attacks against the Philippine homeland under the 1951 U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, permitting an increase in U.S. naval presence in Philippine ports, and at the end of last year, welcoming Philippine-US joint naval patrols.
Like Manila, Hanoi has had to encounter Chinese expansionist actions in the contested South China Sea waters. However, unlike the Philippines, Vietnam is mostly a landlocked country with a land border with China. During the 1980s, China staged skirmishes along the China-Vietnam land border. In 1988, China attacked and occupied Vietnam-controlled Johnson South Reef.
Hence, in light of existing geopolitical realities, while Vietnam has to guard maritime claims against Chinese assertiveness at sea, it cannot let maritime disputes with China imperil the stability of its 1,400-kilometer-long land border. Such realities would dampen any far-reaching impact maritime cooperation agreements Hanoi might have with any of its Southeast Asian neighbors, including the Philippines.
In contrast, the Philippines is an island country surrounded by water and does not have to worry as much as Vietnam about a possible Chinese land incursion. Although the Philippines can afford to confront China with its policy of “assertive transparency” and documenting all instances of Chinese aggression at sea, as well as boost military ties with the U.S., Vietnam would have a far lower margin of error with regard to its China policy.
At the moment, Vietnam has been trying to maintain a delicate balancing act in its ties with China by pursuing a policy of “cooperation and struggle”. Hanoi has been trying to assure Beijing that it would not undermine Chinese national interests in the continental sphere.
For instance, Vietnam has vehemently refused to permit any foreign militaries to set up bases on Vietnamese soil, despite lauding the presence of foreign navies in the South China Sea to counteract Chinese maritime assertiveness.
In April, Bui Thanh Son, the foreign minister of Vietnam, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the code of conduct agreement in the South China Sea, apart from boosting trade ties.
According to official Vietnamese media outlets, Son and Wang reinforced the importance of Sino-Vietnamese relations in each country’s foreign policy, Wang telling Son that both sides should jointly support each other on issues concerning major common interests.
“With regard to sea-related issues, the two sides underlined the importance of seriously implementing the agreements and common perceptions reached between the two Parties and countries’ leaders on properly controlling and settling differences,” as per a report in the VN Express.
On the other hand, Hanoi has been trying to safeguard national interests and claims in the maritime sphere against Chinese expansionism. By restricting its maritime disputes with China offshore, Vietnam is hoping to prevent any skirmishes with China on the land border.
Hoang Viet, a specialist on South China Sea disputes at the Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, voiced his reservations when asked whether the maritime cooperation agreements his country signed with the Philippines meant that both countries were forming a “united front” against China.
“If Vietnam and the Philippines really created a united front to fight China, China would find every way to respond strongly,” he told VOA Vietnamese in a telephone interview.
“But with the two sides only signing memoranda of understanding, it is not enough to form a united front to fight China. Vietnam has also tried to avoid this, because Vietnam does not want to create confrontation with China at this time,” Hoang said.
Diplomatic tensions
Philippine and Vietnamese’s existing claims in the disputed South China Sea waters may ignite bilateral diplomatic tensions and nationalist sentiments between the two countries.
In May 2023, Vietnam protested that the Philippines was breaching its sovereign rights by erecting navigational buoys in five areas at the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea. Nationalist and Beijing-friendly voices in the Philippines have increasingly portrayed Vietnam’s reclamation and militarization efforts in the disputed territories as a serious threat to the country.
Additionally, China also has the resources and the opportunities to take advantage of Philippine-Vietnam maritime tensions to sow discord between the two countries. Arguably, China has a stake in keeping rival Southeast Asian countries divided on the South China Sea issue, thus preventing them from establishing a united front against Beijing.
For example, in July last year, Beijing-friendly Manila Times published two articles criticizing Vietnam’s militarization of the South China Sea. The first article, published on July 16, noted a leaked document by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense stating that Vietnam hired a private company to boost contested features in the Spratly Islands. The second article, published on July 27, elaborated on Vietnam’s supposed militarization plan.
In response, on August 1 last year, a group of Filipinos tore up a Vietnamese national flag in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Manila to protest the alleged militarization reported by the Manila Times articles. Subsequently, Vietnam urged the Philippines “to strictly handle the case” and prevent such behavior from reoccurring, and hinted that any similar incidents “could affect the development of the strategic partnership between the two countries”.
Upon closer scrutiny by analysts, skepticism emerged regarding the credibility of the alleged leaked document obtained by the Manila Times. For one, the document was punctuated by inaccurate and inconsistent uses of official Vietnamese language and formats. The document also contained fundamental grammatical errors that would likely not be glossed over in an actual Vietnamese Ministry of Defense document.
In addition, another article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that suspicious individuals contacted renowned Philippine maritime security experts to encourage them to write about Vietnam’s alleged militarization of the South China Sea. The experts suspected that this was a Chinese attempt to sow discord between the Philippines and Vietnam. The article also indicated that various Philippine reporters obtained sketchy emails claiming access to classified information on Vietnam’s island-building plans in the Spratly Islands.
Photo credit: iStock/ klenger
