Recently, the United States and Vietnam has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen Hanoi’s fisheries management and law enforcement capabilities amid disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
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The MoU also provides for support against “intimidation” of Vietnam’s fishermen in the South China Sea.
The MOU came a week after the US released statements affirming its stance in supporting Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam in disputes with China at sea.
The US rejected China’s claims to most of the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea, including waters surrounding Vietnam’s Vanguard Bank, Luconia Shoals off Malaysia, waters in Brunei’s EEZ, and Natuna Besar off Indonesia. It dismissed China’s action to harass other states’ fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters as unlawful.
China seized the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam by force in 1974 and has since been illegally occupying them. In 2012, it built the so-called “Sansha City” with Woody Island as its seat, and has since built a runway capable of handling military aircraft and other supporting structures.
The so-called city also extends to a number of reefs in Vietnam’s Spratly (Truong Sa) Islands that China seized by force in 1988 as well as the Scarborough Shoal, which is claimed by the Philippines.