Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of with from its shores. Excluding all disputed waters,

has an undisputed exclusive economic zone of . This figure does not include the EEZ areas of the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

and the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

. Vietnam has disputes mainly with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones an ...

due to the nine-dash line. Vietnam has the 33rd longest coastline of . It includes much of the western area of the South China Sea and parts of the southern area bordering Malaysia and Brunei's EEZs. The total land area, including inland bodies of water, of Vietnam is . Vietnam has dozens of islands.

Phú Quốc Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appro ...

is the largest island with .

Disputes

Vietnam's disputes are mainly with the

. Vietnam rejects China's nine-dash line which extends much further than China's from its shores. The nine-dash line cuts straight through Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea and would reduce Vietnam's EEZ by 3/4th. This line also cuts the EEZ of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...

in half.

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

would lose 90% of its EEZ. According to former Philippine President

Benigno Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and Colloquialism, colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the List of presidents of the Philippines, 15th presid ...

, "China's nine-dash line territorial claim over the entire South China Sea is against international laws, particularly the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS)". Vietnam also rejected the Chinese claim, citing that it is baseless and against the UNCLOS. In the spring of 2014, China and Vietnam clashed over China's Haiyang Shiyou oil rig in Vietnam's EEZ. The incident left seventeen Vietnamese injured and damaged both China's and Vietnam's ships.

Paracel and Spratly Islands

The

and the

were recognized as part of Vietnam in 1954. The Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh ( Democratic Republic of ...

, gave

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of t ...

control of the Vietnamese territories south of the 17th Parallel, which included the islands in the Paracels and Spratlys, at least according to Vietnam interpretations. In 1974, during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietna ...

, the PRC used military force in the Paracel Islands and took Yagong Island and the Crescent group of reefs from South Vietnam. Since the 1990s China still occupies and controls all of the Paracel Islands. The PRC controls all of the features in the Paracels. Vietnam controls 29 features of the

. However, since 2013 China has been constructing

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

s on reefs and

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

s which changed the balance of power in favour of the PRC in the South China Sea.

Notes

References

{{World topic, title= Exclusive economic zones, Exclusive economic zone of, noredlinks=yes

Borders of Vietnam Economy of Vietnam China–Vietnam relations

Disputes

Paracel and Spratly Islands

See also

Notes

References