Washington —

Vietnam has expressed dissatisfaction with China’s redefinition of its coastal waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Gulf of Tonkin is a waterway at the northern end of the South China Sea, located between China’s Hainan Island and Vietnam.

Beijing announced earlier this month the establishment of a new baseline in the Gulf. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a country’s baseline is essentially its coastline at low tide and is used to determine the extent of coastal waters and exclusive economic zones.

The Convention makes exceptions for situations adjacent to coastal islands, inlets and other unusual features, in which case straight baselines may be applied. But experts say China has taken this rule to an extreme, drawing a series of straight lines between islands far from its coast.

While the direct impact of China’s latest maritime predatory behavior is limited, experts say it could have implications for freedom of navigation in the region, and in extreme cases Beijing may seek to apply the principle and declare the Taiwan Strait as China’s coastal waters.

It also follows a pattern of aggressive behavior by China in the South China Sea, where since 2013 it has been building artificial islands in waters claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China said the delineation of the Beibu Gulf baseline “strictly abides by domestic law, international law and bilateral agreements” and “will not affect the interests of Vietnam or any other country.”The official cited a March 4 statement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Global Times.

Hanoi disputes that claim. More than a week later, when asked about the baseline issue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Fan Qiuheng stressed that “coastal countries need to abide by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea when determining territorial sea baselines” and urged Beijing to respect previously agreed baselines. Gulf Bilateral Delimitation Agreement. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was ratified in 1982.

no dispute

Unlike other parts of the South China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin has been largely free of disputes since Hanoi and Beijing signed a delimitation agreement in 2000 that came into effect four years later.

According to Reuters, a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on whether China’s new baseline would jeopardize the agreement.

Hoang Viet, a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City Law University who pays close attention to regional maritime issues, told VOA Vietnamese over the phone: “The Gulf has been delimited. No matter what, China’s claims cannot go beyond the scope agreed in the agreement.” It is drawn in the Gulf. baseline. “

He stressed that it would be “almost impossible” for Beijing to amend the agreement already ratified by the two countries.

Raymond Powell, team leader at Stanford University’s Center for National Security Innovation, told VOA Vietnamese in an email that China’s baseline drawing differs from standard practice under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which says baselines “may not Deviating to any significant degree from the general direction” of the coast. “

“China has illegally expanded its territorial waters by drawing a straight baseline from its coast to several offshore islands,” Powell said. “UNCLOS does not allow the drawing of straight baselines except in extreme circumstances, such as Norway’s complex fjords. .This is not one of those special circumstances.”

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, any waters within the baseline are considered the internal waters of the coastal state and cannot be passed by foreign ships or aircraft without authorization.

“The new baseline turns a large part of the area into China’s forbidden sea. Qiongzhou Strait [the strait between Hainan island and the Chinese mainland] Now it is completely China’s internal waters,” Vietnam said. “This affects the freedom of navigation of foreign ships. “

He added that China could use this as a precedent to claim that the Taiwan Strait is internal waters.

Powell predicted that Beijing’s new claims “could one day trigger” a U.S. freedom of navigation operation (FONOP), in which a warship would enter an unrecognized claim and transit or conduct military activity without notice. The United States “challenges excessive maritime claims around the world, regardless of the identity of the claimant,” according to the U.S. Navy press office.

Most freedom of navigation operations in the region are limited to the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s territorial claims.