Will Vietnam keep ‘nuanced’ China policy amid report of radar system on disputed island?

A report by UK-based think tank Chatham House said China’s radar system on Triton – as shown by satellite images – could enable Beijing to survey an area stretching from Hainan Island to the Subi Reef in the Spratlys.

The development was worrying as Triton was only 130 nautical miles (240km) from the coast of mainland Vietnam, said Huynh Tam Sang, an international relations lecturer at Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City.

“The new radar system gives China leverage to monitor Vietnam’s central coastal region, home to its strategic military bases,” he said. It would also allow China to bolster its electronic warfare and intelligence capabilities, he added.

In addition, China could also improve its monitoring of any oil and gas exploration operations by Vietnam near the Paracel Islands with the system, Huynh said.

Phan Xuan Dung, a research officer at ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute and a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, told This Week in Asia that China could gain “de facto control” of the disputed area covered by its system through its ability to detect Vietnam’s activities.