By Diep Ngoc Pham and John Boudreau, Bloomberg News,
Bloomberg

HANOI, Vietnam — Tensions over the South China Sea were reignited after Vietnam said it had submitted its stance on the dispute to the international arbitration tribunal reviewing the Philippines' challenge against China's claims.

Vietnam has asked the arbitration court to take into account its legal rights and interests in the disputed sea region, spokesman Le Hai Binh, said in a foreign ministry statement posted on its website Thursday. The country also refuted China's claims to the Paracel and Spratly islands in the statement, which provoked a Chinese response Thursday that its neighbor's claims were unlawful.

The renewed tensions are being sparked as the United Nations tribunal in the Hague considers Philippine's challenge to China's claim to much of the South China Sea as the island nation seeks to check Beijing's bid for control of waters rich in oil, gas and fish. Vietnamese and Philippine leaders say they are determined to oppose China's move to control the sea region after China placed an oil rig, HYSY-981, in May off Vietnam's coast.

"Beijing will be irritated that Vietnam has submitted its views to the Arbitral Tribunal, which in China's view has no jurisdiction over this issue," said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. "Despite efforts by both sides to repair the damage caused by HYSY-981, it demonstrates yet again that the South China Sea dispute continues to bedevil bilateral relations."

China said it rejects international arbitration of the territorial dispute and will not join in the proceedings, according to a position paper released December 7. China has "indisputable" sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Vietnam reiterates it has "sufficient historical evidence and legal ground to affirm its sovereignty" over the Paracel and Spratly islands, according to the statement. The foreign ministry didn't say when the submission to the arbitration court was made. The South China Morning Post reported it was submitted Dec. 5.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in May the country has prepared evidence for a legal suit challenging China's claims to the waters and is considering the best time to file it.

Vietnam's submission "raises the stature of the case in the eyes of the arbitrational tribunal," Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, said by phone. "It pushes management of the dispute slightly down the legal path. Vietnam may have concluded that if it does not look out for its own interests, it will be left behind."

For now, Vietnam is most likely content to let the Philippines bear the brunt of China's anger for taking the case to the tribunal, Storey said.

China claims much of the island chains and waters in the South China Sea that extends hundreds of miles south from Hainan Island outlined in its nine-dash line map, first published in 1940s.

Copyright © 2014, Chicago Tribune

Source: www.chicagotribune.com/sns-wp-blm-news-bc-china-vietnam12-20141212-story.html

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