As a key body of water in Southeast Asia, the South China Sea has always been the center of the competition between China and the United States. In recent years, the Philippines has clashed frequently with China over the South China Sea issue, causing a serious decline in relations between the two countries. Vietnam, on the other hand, has made claims in the South China Sea, quieter, not openly challenging China or following the West at will. However, not long ago, Marcos Marcos of the Philippines suddenly threw an olive branch to Vietnam, expressing his intention to sign a maritime cooperation agreement with Vietnam in order to establish an "anti-China alliance" in the South China Sea. The move drew global attention and left Vietnam in a dilemma.
And this time, Marcos Jr.'s "rebellion" is obviously to take advantage of the situation to strengthen his position and power in the South China Sea. He sees Vietnam as a good partner, given its territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea and its military and political power to be reckoned with. If the Philippines can draw Vietnam into its camp, it will be "caught between two ends" in the South China Sea, posing a huge threat to China. In addition, the United States, Germany and some other Western countries are also secretly helping Marcos, and they are giving Vietnam all kinds of attractive benefits, both militarily and economically, in order to pull Vietnam to their side.
However, Vietnam will not be easily "instigated" against it, and its own positioning and strategy on the South China Sea issue are constantly changing. Vietnam is well aware that China is its neighbor and key partner, so it is unwilling to have a positive contradiction with China, so it is in Vietnam's long-term interests to maintain good relations with China. However, Vietnam does not want to become a tool of the Western world, and they know that the "assistance" and "cooperation" of the Western world to Vietnam is only out of its own strategic goals, not out of consideration of its own interests, but out of consideration of its own interests. It is precisely for this reason that Vietnam has always adopted a posture of "keeping the light and nurturing obscurity" in the South China Sea, that is, it will not provoke first or arbitrarily intervene in other people's disputes, and will pursue the policy of "putting aside the situation first and developing together" and seek peaceful coexistence with all countries.
But Vietnam has not completely abandoned its principles, and they have resolutely defended their territorial sovereignty. In January, Vietnam's foreign minister, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Paracels, issued a declaration condemning China's military invasion of Vietnam in 1974 and declaring that Vietnam would unswervingly defend the Paracel Islands. The announcement sparked a backlash in China, with China's Wang Wenbin denying it at a news conference, reiterating China's ownership of the Paracel and Spratly Islands and its historical and legal basis for owning the islands. China will unswervingly resist all illegal claims on China's territory and will unswervingly defend its national sovereignty.
Vietnam's foreign minister's remarks were interpreted by some analysts as Vietnam's reaction to the Philippines and Western countries, as well as a warning to China that Vietnam will never be "instigated" and that Vietnam wants to engage in reciprocal negotiations with China on the South China Sea issue. However, some analysts see the remarks made by the Vietnamese foreign minister as an expression of national sentiment within Vietnam, a manifestation of compulsion, aimed at alleviating the Vietnamese people's concerns about the situation in the South China Sea, not genuinely hoping for conflict with China, but hoping to ease the domestic society in this way.
However, in any case, the statement made by the Vietnamese foreign minister has caused a certain amount of uncertainty in the situation in the South China Sea and has also posed a certain test for Sino-Vietnamese relations. China and Vietnam are good neighbors of the two countries, and the two countries are rich in history, culture, and interests, and we should resolve their contradictions on the South China Sea issue in the spirit of mutual respect, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and peaceful coexistence, through dialogue and consultation, so as to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, instead of being taken advantage of by external forces and drawn into the whirlpool of confrontation and contradictions.