THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Vietnam needs to get behind Hague ruling over China Sea

Vietnam needs to get behind Hague ruling over China Sea

A year after The Hague ruling, commentators have flooded the geopolitical arena.

One former Vietnamese government official and expert on the South China Sea issue has called on all the claimant countries in the territorial and maritime dispute to treat the arbitral ruling won by the Philippines last year as a “valuable precedent” in following the rule of law in the contested sea.
The landmark ruling of July 12, 2016 found that China had no historical rights over the disputed parts of the South China Sea and invalidated its nine-dash line claim over the area. The ruling, which was overwhelmingly favourable to the Philippines, was immediately dismissed as “a farce” by China, which did not participate in the case. But with regard to this issue, claimant countries should continue to implement a more robust, practical and specific legal initiative. This is the only way Asean can counter China’s coercive tactics and mistreatment of its neighbours, including the Vietnamese.
Vietnam has been adamant in its opposition to China, providing a much-needed balance against the emerging power in the Asia-Pacific. But a puzzling question arises here: why is Hanoi not hailing The Hague verdict? Why is Hanoi content to just sit, watch and cheer on the Philippines as it wages a proxy word-war against China on America’s behalf? Why does Hanoi refuse to throw its hat in the ring with us in the Philippines? And more curiously still, why did Hanoi make a 180-degree turn in late 2014 when Vietnam’s cybersecurity agency discovered that Vietnamese-American bloggers in Ho Chi Minh City were using the anti-China protests there to topple the Vietnamese government? Thereafter, why did Hanoi send its top cadres to Beijing to mend fences after they discovered US plots to destabilise and depose Hanoi? Those Vietnamese-American bloggers are more like the Fil-American operatives working for the CIA, just like in our country.
Meanwhile, since Hanoi acknowledges the arbitral tribunal ruling, why are Vietnamese fishing vessels still encroaching on our fishing waters? 
I have always believed that the ruling was not merely intended to define the winner between the Philippines and China. It was not intended to undermine China’s prestige and honour in the regional and international community. Rather, it protects the truth, the right to maintain and promote the effectiveness of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.
Ricardo E Catindig
Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN

nationthailand