Vietnam, Yielding to Beijing, Backs Off South China Sea Drilling
Repsol said that But when the Chinese push back hard, like they just did, the Vietnamese are out on a limb all by themselves.
Dr. Vuving said that Vietnam may have ordered Repsol to stop drilling in the South China Sea this summer
because it feared its Coast Guard could be overwhelmed by a potential riposte from the Chinese Navy.
Chinese said that can try their best to
Eufracia Taylor, a political analyst based in Singapore at the British risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said
that while Vietnam and the Philippines were once "in the same boat" on South China Sea policy under Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, President Benigno S. Aquino III, bilateral relations had deteriorated since Mr. Duterte took office.
Ms. Taylor said that Vietnam’s uncertainty over the United States’ commitment in the South China Sea under the Trump administration was significant,
but also a familiar feeling across Southeast Asia for decades.
It hardly helps that other Southeast Asian countries, which have less of a direct stake in South China Sea disputes
and are mostly eager to woo state-backed Chinese investment, are reluctant to publicly discuss Beijing’s island building or the arbitration ruling, said Collin Koh Swee Lean, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
