"Resist and Reward: Vietnam's Naval Expansion" Topic

"Without a doubt, the Southeast Asian country most willing to challenge Chinese claims in the South China Sea has been Vietnam. Its government and people have long resisted China. Vietnam famously fought its most recent war against China in 1979. But what is often forgotten is that the two sides continued to intermittently fight pitched battles over the next 12 years. Though Vietnam fared well on land, it did not at sea. In 1988, China and Vietnam skirmished over then-Vietnamese-occupied Johnston South Reef in the South China Sea. When the smoke cleared, some 64 Vietnamese naval personnel were dead, and China had captured the reef. With its navy too weak and its superpower benefactor, the Soviet Union, in no mood to confront China, Vietnam could do little to reclaim its lost territory.

Given such history, Vietnam has good reason to eye Chinese actions with suspicion. As a result, the growth of Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea since the early 2000s was bound to raise eyebrows in Hanoi. Vietnam recognized that China's new capabilities would put not only its remaining outposts in the Spratly archipelago at higher risk, but also its entire coastline. If allowed uncontested control of the waters within its self-proclaimed "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea, China could not only threaten Vietnam's offshore oil and natural gas interests, but also turn its eastern flank in a future border conflict. Hence, Hanoi responded by building a bigger and more capable navy…"
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