Ships of Chinese Coast Guard are seen near Chinese oil rig Haiyang Shi You 981 (right) in the South China Sea, about 210 km off shore of Vietnam. Credit:Reuters But China responded by ordering its ships to use water cannons and to ram the Vietnamese vessels, injuring some Vietnamese crew. Apparently Vietnam’s civilian ships retaliated with their own ramming – China claims its vessels were rammed no less than 171 times. Within days, thousands of protesters were torching and looting factories across Vietnam that were seen as Chinese-owned. The Chinese embassy in Hanoi was forced to tell Chinese living in Vietnam to “minimise unnecessary outings” as thousands of Chinese fled to neighbouring Cambodia. By Friday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was calling on police and local authorities to end the violence.

A photo released by the Philippines foreign ministry taken on February 25 showing what Manila says are expanded structures on Johnson South Reef in the South China Sea, which is held by China. Credit:AP China’s actions have dangerously raised tensions in the South China Sea, where six countries have competing territorial claims. Chinese and Vietnamese ships remain in a tense stand-off near the rig. China has said that drilling in the same location will continue until August, raising the prospect of the stand-off dragging on for months. “The situation is most worrying because of the number of ships involved on both sides and the danger of accident or miscalculation,” said Carlyle Thayer, an expert on the South China Sea for the University of New South Wales and the Australian Defence Force Academy. Strategic planners in Australia and across the region have been left to ponder why Beijing chose to escalate its decades-old territorial dispute with Vietnam now, given that relations between the two countries have improved since 2013.

For several years China has been aggressively asserting its claim over almost the entire South China Sea, where maps show a bewildering array of lines indicating overlapping claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Until this month, there had been hope that relations with Vietnam had been on the improve. But this flare-up is considered more serious than previous incidents involving fishing vessels. Relations between China and the Philippines are also at a low, with Manila releasing photographic evidence of Beijing reclaiming land, purportedly for an airstrip, on the disputed Johnson South coral reef. Like its declaration of an air defence zone over islands in the East China Sea contested with Japan, analysts say China's recent moves fit a pattern of pushing hard to test the response from its neighbours, in a long-term game to assert control over the South China Sea. “Ultimately, it is looking to see what it can get away with,” said Grant Newsham, senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies. “Its military capability has markedly increased along with its economic heft, and it is less willing to negotiate and back down.”

As tensions escalated this week, Australia expressed “serious concern” and urged all parties to show restraint. China's actions are straining US-China relations and raise questions on whether Washington can work together with Beijing in Asia and on bilateral issues, a senior US official said on Thursday. US Vice-President Joe Biden and other top US officials told visiting Chinese General Fang Fenghui, chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, that Beijing's behaviour was "dangerous and provocative" and must stop. Professor Thayer said that beneath the diplomatic surface, China’s actions are likely to stoke anxieties already held by south-east Asian nations with territorial claims. “These states will seek to shore up their own maritime capabilities and to seek reassurance of support from the United States and other maritime powers such as Japan, Australia and India,” Professor Thayer said.

More than half of the world’s merchant shipping passes annually through South China Sea, including 60 per cent of Australia’s trade. The waters are believed to be resource-rich and are known to be fertile fishing grounds. China justified its actions by claiming the rig’s operations were in Chinese “territorial waters” enclosed in a “nine-dash line” - a vast U-shaped area which covers the bulk of the South China Sea - and had nothing to do with Vietnam. General Fang said Beijing would protect the rig and accused Vietnam of dispatching ships in an attempt to disrupt drilling. He also pointed the finger at US President Barack Obama’s so-called pivot to Asia, saying some countries had seized upon it as an opportunity to create trouble the South and East China seas.

In an editorial on Friday, the nationalistic Chinese newspaper Global Times said China was at a “delicate point” in its rise as a global power, and had to balance pursuing vibrant economic growth “with securing its territorial waters”. “China has taken the first assertive step in securing its territorial integrity in the South China Sea, and in the meantime faces strong protests from Hanoi and Manila, and obvious bias from the United States,” it said. “China's diplomatic risks are rising, but these are the costs that have to be borne as China becomes more powerful. “Vietnam and the Philippines, which haven't updated their knowledge about China, still cherish the illusion that China can simply be forced back by pressure.” But Tung Nguyen, a senior researcher at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, said China’s “harsh behaviour” towards Vietnam this time will serve as a fresh reminder to South-east Asian leaders of how difficult it has been for countries like Vietnam to approach the weight of China on the maritime issue. “The recent developments in the South China Sea have reminded ASEAN countries of the way big power politics is operating in the region,” Mr Tung said.

Professor Thayer said China’s actions, which were unexpected, provocative and illegal, have revived fears of the “China threat” and could backfire on Beijing. “China will succeed in intimidating Vietnam because Hanoi can do little to expel the Chinese,” he said. “But China will suffer on the diplomatic front.” with Philip Wen, Reuters