China responds to Vietnam’s arbitration comments On Wednesday, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung raised the possibility of arbitration to address the territorial dispute between China and Vietnam. Briefly: The Dispute China and Vietnam have long been in dispute over territory in the Nam Con Son Basin, a 35,000-square-mile energy rich area in the South China Sea. The islands concerned – the Paracel and Spratly Islands – fall within 200 nautical miles of Vietnam’s coastline which, by international standards, is within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. China also claims the Islands. Tension over the territory escalated in July, when Beijing sent a ship to conduct seismic surveying in the area for several weeks, despite Vietnam’s protests. Vietnam’s Stance At a government-organised conference on Wednesday 6 November, the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister raised the possibility of other methods of dispute resolution. Trung said, if negotiations with China did not yield solutions, Hanoi would look to arbitration and other measures. “We know that these measures include fact-finding, mediation, conciliation, negotiation, arbitration and litigation measures,” he said. He then added, “The UN Charter and UNCLOS 1982 have sufficient mechanisms for us to apply those measures.” China’s Stance A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, said in response to Vietnam’s comments, that Vietnam “needs to avoid taking actions that may complicate matters or undermine peace and stability in the South China Sea as well as our bilateral relations.” China is a major trading partner of Vietnam. Shuang also said the dispute was a case of “occupation of China’s Nansha Islands by Vietnam and other countries concerned.” Previous Arbitration Other countries which have territory disputes with China in the South China Sea include Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. In 2016, The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s claim over most of the area was invalid. The case was filed by the Philippines and awarded in their favour, but China largely ignored the decision. This is an interesting case for the enforcement of arbitration awards. While the United States and many of its allies insisted China comply with the binding award, China maintained that the arbitral proceedings were invalid. If Vietnam chose to pursue litigation or bring a claim in arbitration against China, it would increase the strain on their relationship. Bill Hayton, a South China Sea expert from the Chatham House said, “It would have major political ramifications for the Vietnam-China relationship, but maybe that’s the only thing left for Vietnam.”