Chinese ‘monster’ ship patrols near Vietnam’s oil fields

Chinese language coast guard ship 5901, dubbed “The Monster” for its measurement, has been close to Vietnam’s oil exploration blocks at Vanguard Financial institution within the South China Sea since early December, Radio Free Asia has realized. 

The CCG 5901 has “performed an intrusive patrol of Vietnam’s oil and fuel fields west of Vanguard Financial institution,” mentioned Ray Powell, director of the U.S.-based SeaLight venture, who was the primary to identify the most recent motion of the vessel in Vietnam’s unique financial zone (EEZ).

An EEZ provides a state unique entry to the pure assets within the waters and within the seabed.

Information obtained by RFA from monitoring web site MarineTraffic present the CCG 5901 (previously referred to as Zhong Guoa Hai Jing 3901) has weaved an on-and-off sample west of the Vanguard Financial institution, the place Vietnam has some oil exploration initiatives, since a minimum of Dec. 9, 2023.

MarineTraffic makes use of AIS (automated data system) alerts that ships are obliged to transmit for security causes to trace them.

The Chinese language ship has largely been working “darkish”, or not broadcasting AIS, since departing Sanya, Hainan, on Nov. 14, 2023, based on Powell.

“This frequent follow violates the Worldwide Conference for the Security of Life at Sea, of which China is a signatory,” he added.

The final time the CCG 5901 turned on its AIS was on Jan. 7, 2024 at round 8:20 a.m. UTC. The ship was about 50 nautical miles (92.6km) southwest of Vanguard Financial institution. A number of Vietnamese fishery patrol vessels had been seen tailing the Chinese language ship.

The Chinese language ship’s AIS was additionally activated on Dec. 9 and Dec. 29, 2023.

The 12,000-ton CCG 5901 is double the scale of a U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and can also be greater than an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

The coast guard ship, armed with heavy machine weapons, additionally has a helicopter platform and a hangar giant sufficient to accommodate bigger rotary wing plane.

Shared future

Vanguard Financial institution, known as Bai Tu Chinh in Vietnamese, is a vital website of Vietnamese oil and fuel growth the place Vietnam and a few international companions perform oil and fuel exploration.

It is usually a recognized flashpoint between Vietnam and China – their legislation enforcement vessels confronted one another in July 2019 in one of many worst maritime standoffs within the South China Sea between them lately.  

Chinese language coast guard vessels preserve a frequent presence close to the Vanguard Financial institution (Wan’an Tan in Chinese language) – a submerged formation that lies totally inside Vietnam’s EEZ.

China is among the many six events that maintain claims over the South China Sea however Beijing’s declare is by far the biggest, masking virtually 90% of the ocean.

“The [incursion] just isn’t new but it surely occurs proper after Vietnam and China agreed to construct a ‘Group with a Shared Future’ throughout Xi Jinping’s go to to Hanoi in December,” mentioned Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

The idea of a ‘Group with a Shared Future’ is China’s imaginative and prescient for worldwide relations within the Chinese language chief, Xi’s Jinping period.

“That reveals that basically the Vietnam-China bilateral relations haven’t modified and it stays very troublesome for the 2 international locations to share a future ought to China proceed pursuing its present declare over nearly-entire South China Sea,” Hiep informed RFA.

One other Vietnamese political analyst, Nguyen Khac Giang, mentioned that the Chinese language coast guard patrols “could also be sending a message to not solely Vietnam however the broader worldwide neighborhood about China’s sovereignty within the South China Sea.”

“Alternatively, China needs to take care of its strain to interrupt Vietnam’s oil and actions within the space, in addition to to push Hanoi to comply with a joint exploration plan with China in the identical method as what it achieved with the Philippines below the Duterte administration,” mentioned Giang.

In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed an settlement to discover oil and fuel reserves within the South China Sea however the Philippines declared an finish to it in June 2022, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took energy.

The 2 international locations, nevertheless, had agreed ‘to renew discussions on oil and fuel growth” after Marcos visited Beijing in December.

Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.