Vietnam needs brotherly correction
This article by Wang Qiang, a research fellow at the National Defense University PLA China for the Global Times, highlights China’s attitudes towards Vietnam’s resistance to its territorial claims. Here is a section:
Both China and Vietnam are developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and major investor. Due to the complexities of international relations, there are deep-rooted conflicts between the two that cannot be avoided and need firm determination to solve.
China would set a good example by firmly cracking down on Vietnam's fuss-making. The changing international environment brings equal opportunities to every country. The crisis brought by Vietnam's opportunism is an opportunity for China.
Now China should use the current favorable condition to accelerate building basic infrastructure such as the island airport, the wharf and fresh water facilities, to expand exploiting oil resources in the South China Sea, and to broaden its control over maritime rights.
That is because the South China Sea issue, unlike the demarcation of the border between China and Vietnam or the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf, needs to be addressed with visible achievements.
China is riding roughshod over Vietnam’s claims to part of the South China Sea and there is not a great deal they can do about it. The above article highlights just how alien China’s military complex’s attitudes are to those of the West and emphasises that this is not an isolated incident that will be resolved overnight.
The Vietnamese Index continues to rebound from the early May lows and has been flattered by the continued outperformance of PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock which is a midstream player in the gas sector and represents 20% of the index. Vietnam Dairy on the other hand is the second largest weighting and has yet to rally following the breakdown from its overhead top formation.
A further indication of the pressure the country is under has been the resumption of Dong devaluation by the central bank. The currency had been among the steadiest in the region for the last few years but the Dong hit a new low last week and there is little prospect of it strengthening while the geopolitical scenario remains uncertain.
