Thayer Consultancy

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Background Briefing: Vietnam: Youtube Video of Vietnam-China Ship Collision Carlyle A. Thayer November 14, 2011

On November 6 a video appeared on Youtube showing a Vietnam Marine Police (CanhSatBienVietNam)boatchaseandramaChinaMaritimeSurveillancevessel. Thevideo,ifcarefullyreplayedaframeatatime,showstheinitials(oracronym)CSB ontheupperbridgeoftheVietnameseboat.Thevideolastsalittleoversixminutes. Versions have appeared with English translations of remarks made by the Vietnamesecrew. Most remarkably, China has refrained from making any public comment on this incident. ItwouldappearthataVietnamesecrewmemberreleasedthevideoformotivations that are not clear. The crewmember may have acted out of patriotic sentiment to illustrate that Vietnam was taking action to keep Chinese ships out of Vietnamese waters.And/orthecrewmembermayhavebeenunhappywiththefactthatVietnam toohaskeptthisincidentunderwraps. A review of the video clip and the remarks made by the Vietnamese crew provide prima facie evidence that the Vietnamese boat was the transgressor. It appears to be
tryingtomuscletheChinaMaritimeSurveillance(CMS)shipandthecollisionappeartobe

eitheradeliberateactoramisjudgmentbytheVietnamesecaptain.Aretiredsenior navalofficerhasobservedinthisregardthattheVietnamesecaptainmayhavenot appreciatedthepressureandsuctioneffectscausedbetweentwovesselssteaming alongside each other a phenomenon well appreciated by warships during replenishmentatseaoperations.
The China State Oceanographic Administration has confirmed to Beijingbased sources on November 9 that the incident took place within the last six month but would provide no furtherdetails.ThismeansthattheincidentislikelytohavetakenplaceafterJune7. VietnamsentaspecialdiplomaticenvoytoChinaonJune25.ChinaandASEANadoptedthe GuidelinestoImplementtheDOC[DeclarationonConductofPartiesintheSouthChinaSea signed in 2002]. On October 11, the Secretary General of the Vietnam Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, went to Beijing and witnessed the signing of the ChinaVietnam AgreementonBasicPrinciplestoSettleSeaDisputes. In other words the collision at sea incident occurred at a very delicate time in relations betweenChinaandVietnam.Bothsideswerelikelymotivatedtodownplaytheincidentin ordertomakeprogressonlargerissues.

2 AlthoughChinahasonseveraloccasionscomplainedaboutaggressiveactionstaken by Vietnamese boats, this is the first video incident of a recent event from a Vietnamese source. The video raises the question whether Vietnam has adopted more aggressive tactics towards its northern neighbor. Sources close to the oil industryclaimsthatarmedVietnamesenavalshipsarenowescortingoilexploration vessels into the South China Sea. These sources claims that the Vietnamese naval shipsareoperatingclosertothedisputedislandofTruongSaLon(orSpratlyIsland) than they are to the Vietnamese coastline. Although these waters form part of VietnamsExclusiveEconomicZonetheyarecontestedbyChina. IfVietnamhasadoptedmoreaggressivetactics,asillustratedinthevideo,thenthe Vietnamese captain is allegedly guilty of violating international regulations (COLREGS)toavoidcollisionsatseaandendangeringsafetyofnavigation. Videosofcollision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6msOgd78&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMkmeVVrao&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=vGj54XNCAM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tex4V7fXC_Y
BBC Report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/vietnamese/vietnam/2011/11/111107_youtube_clip_ships.shtml