South China Sea: Vietnam protests against Sandy Cay moves, raising flashpoint fears

Vietnam’s protest over a reef in the South China Sea also claimed by the Philippines and China could become a “new flashpoint” in the longer term, analysts said, adding that Beijing might try to exploit differences between Manila and Hanoi.

Hanoi said on Saturday that it had sent diplomatic notes to China and the Philippines to protest against their activities in the contested South China Sea, urging them to respect Vietnam’s territorial claims.

Its foreign ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said Vietnam demanded that “relevant parties” respect its sovereignty over the archipelago, urging them to “refrain from actions that further complicate the situation”.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on April 26 that China’s coastguard had landed at Sandy Cay as part of a maritime operation to assert Beijing’s sovereignty over the Spratly Islands.

A day later, the Philippines sent its own coastguards and found no one there, with both nations raising their flags on the disputed reef.

Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia programme, said Sandy Cay was “potentially a new flashpoint” if the three countries decided to set up a more permanent presence by erecting facilities or deploying troops there.

  

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