China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Taking Long-Term Hard Line Toward China on Maritime Claims

Nov 28, 2016 | Ralph Jennings, Voice of America
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Vietnam is lengthening a military runway on a tiny islet to help hold off a larger, more aggressive China for control in Asia’s widest-reaching sovereignty dispute as other claimants keep quiet or seek negotiations. The government in Hanoi is extending the runway on one of the Spratly Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, from 762 to 1,005 meters and building new hangars, according to the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.