MARITIME SECURITY The sovereignty dispute between China and Vietnam in the northern SCS has exploded in recent weeks. On May 1, China moved its billion-dollar deepwater drilling rig, Haiyang Shiyou 981, a symbol of Chinese sovereignty, to 120 nautical miles off Vietnam’s coast and 17 miles from Triton Island, an islet in the Paracel chain that China controls. Hanoi was extremely upset at Beijing’s move, since the rig was deployed well within Vietnam’s EEZ, and since then, coast guard vessels and warships from both countries have fired their water cannons at each other and allegedly rammed one another, as Vietnam has tried to dislodge the rig and China has worked to keep it in place. The dispute is not limited to the sea: rare anti-China protests erupted in Vietnam, and although they were unofficially sanctioned by the Communist government, they quickly got out of hand, with six people killed, hundreds injured and arrested, and hundreds of factories looted and/or burnt. (The irony is that many of these factories that were destroyed were Taiwanese, with protestors seemingly unable or unwilling to recognize the difference.) The reaction to these riots was swift: Vietnam’s stock market dropped 15 per cent; China,
Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia (all with ethnic Chinese populations in Vietnam) called on Hanoi to calm the situation and protect people and property; and China evacuated 3,000 of its citizens by sea. The effects of the China-Vietnam dispute — and the SCS disputes in general — extend beyond Vietnam’s stock market crashing and regional riots. Because of the importance of the SCS to shipping and resource extraction, such instability has implications for the wider world. An example of these wider implications is piracy in the Strait of Malacca. The strait, a narrow but crucially important waterway between the Indian Ocean and SCS, suffered so many pirate attacks and robberies in the early 2000s that insurer Lloyd’s of London added the waterway to its list of high risk areas in June 2005, which raised insurance by one per cent of cargo value for ships transiting the strait. The Somali coast and Gulf of Guinea, both highpiracy areas, are also areas currently considered risky by Lloyd’s and have higher insurance rates as a result. The probability of the SCS — or parts of — being designated high-risk by Lloyd’s is growing with the continued clashes between China and Vietnam. Indeed, Vietnam is privately considering a strategy of targeting Chinese
shipping in the southern SCS so that insurance rates rise and foreign companies panic, thereby costing Beijing dearly, according to University of New South Wales professor emeritus Carl Thayer. In addition to adding to insurance costs, such a scenario would wreak havoc on just-intime shipping schedules within the region, which would reverberate down the line to consumers around the world. So how can such instability be prevented and such maritime disputes be resolved? UNCLOS provides a way to arbitrate disputes, but the treaty is vague enough that arguments can be made selectively. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is the strongest forum in the region, but it has so far remained neutral on SCS issues. In the absence of strong official frameworks, knowledge of the issues and personal relationships can help keep incidents from escalating. The Maritime Security Challenges 2014 conference is an ongoing series at which government officials, naval officers, sailors and industry personnel, can build their knowledge and these important relationships. The next iteration in the series is scheduled for October 6 to 9 in Victoria, with panels to discuss maritime disputes and other crucial maritime affairs.
Image by Pte. Leona Chaisson, Base Imaging, CFB Esquimalt, BC, Canada.
Four crew members from HMCS Regina, including Sub-Lieutenant Crystal Myers, MARS Officer (above), and an Imagery Technician from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt, British Columbia, participate in a co-operative passage exercise aboard the Harbin, a 052 class Destroyer from the PLA(N) with the REGINA while she embarks at sea after a four day visit in Qingdao, China. This is the first time a female Canadian Forces member has been on this ship. 52 BC Shipping News July/August 2014