Vietnam's live-fire naval exercises this week may signal a new stage of regional tension over disputed areas of the potentially oil- and gas-rich South China Sea.
At a minimum, says Abraham Denmark, a senior adviser at the Center for Naval Analysis in Washington and a World Politics Review contributor, the exercises were designed to send a message to China, which in recent months has become more assertive in its claims of sovereignty over the sea.
"It's fairly clear that Vietnam is signaling its resolve to China that they're not going to back down on disputed claims in the South China Sea," Denmark told Trend Lines yesterday. "Vietnam and China have a very antagonistic history with each other, and Vietnam has developed a rather robust sensitivity to Chinese assertiveness on their interests."