China/Vietnam: Is Vietnam Spinning Out of China’s Orbit?

Aug 15, 2014 | Foreign Policy Association
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Beijing’s formidable display of aggression this year is backfiring, as its neighbors scramble to beef up their military capabilities and forge defensive alliances both within and outside the region. One such notable alliance making the headlines this past week is between the U.S. and Vietnam. Vietnam, much like U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines, is locked in maritime territorial disputes with an increasingly assertive China. Vietnam’s latest dispute with China stems from the deployment in May of an offshore oil drilling rig within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. Beijing’s blatant action set off a wave of Vietnamese nationalism, numerous collisions between Vietnamese and Chinese naval vessels, and deadly anti-Chinese riots in May, before the rig was finally removed July 16.