Time for China to go it alone?

Country will no longer allow its legitimate rights to be wantonly encroached upon by some of its neighbors

In recent days, Vietnam has been disturbing China's routine drilling operations in the waters off Zhongjian Island, part of China's Xisha Islands. In a move to attract the world's attention, Vietnam also invited some international journalists to the operating site.

Surprisingly, the Vietnamese government also encouraged anti-China demonstrations and even acquiesced in the riots against foreign enterprises, mostly Chinese investments in the country, which resulted in the loss of innocent lives and huge damage to property. The Vietnamese move, which finally turned out to be a farce against itself, only proved the government's lack of deep thinking about the situation. After all, the drilling site is just 17 nautical miles from China's Zhongjian Island, yet 150 nautical miles from Vietnamese coastline. As pointed out by Chinese officials time and again, Vietnamese vessels have to sail a long way across the stormy sea to disturb the normal operations of the Chinese company on the doorstep of China.