Cease provocative activities in Chinese waters

Relations between China and Vietnam have undergone a subtle change following a series of provocative activities by Hanoi intended to disturb the normal drilling operations of a Chinese oil rig in the waters off China's Xisha Islands, also known as the Paracel Islands.

When the oil rig, or Haiyang Shiyou 981, owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation, commenced operating in early May, the China Maritime Safety Administration issued a notice, demanding vessels avoid passing within a three-mile radius around the drilling site to ensure safety. In disregard of this notice, the Vietnamese authorities dispatched a large number of vessels, including armed ones, close to the site, and they have rammed China's civilian ships and disturbed the normal operations of the Chinese drilling platform.

The Vietnamese authorities also filed a protest, accusing the drilling operation of falling within "disputable waters" and violating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Hanoi has made use of the so-called "collision incident" in the South China Sea incited by the media, to describe itself a victim bullied by China.