South China Sea: ‘bullied by China’? Philippine-Vietnam joint drills mark peace bid

Delegates of the Vietnam coastguard, as well as a 2,400-tonne vessel from their side, will reportedly be in Manila in August as both parties seek to finalise plans for a joint exercise on search-and-rescue and fire-and-explosion prevention.

Observers say a peaceful negotiation between Hanoi and Manila over their overlapping claims to extended continental shelves may undermine Beijing’s own assertions.

Philippine and Vietnamese defence officials are also slated to meet in Manila this week over talks of closer defence cooperation.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said last week it was ready to discuss overlapping continental shelf claims with Vietnam after Hanoi followed suit with its own filing before the UN this month, with Manila having done so in June.

The Spratly Islands are a flashpoint in competing claims between Hanoi and Beijing – which calls the land masses Nansha Islands.

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He called Hanoi’s following of Manila’s model of filing an extended continental shelf claims a “significant leap of maritime rules-based order to prevail in the contested islands” amid China’s “intimidating 10-dash line and its new law to forbid foreign fishers in their self-described maritime domains”.

Cabalza said a reconciliation between the Philippines and Vietnam over disputed maritime claims was more likely as “Vietnam echoes a language of equality and respect to its Asean neighbour, unlike China that utilises an ineffective grey-zone tactic against the Philippines”.

“Hanoi does not bully Manila but uses diplomacy and strategic partnership to peacefully resolve the South China Sea conundrum,” he said.

“The arbitral award of July 12, 2016, declared that