The management of Vietnam's border disputes: what impact on its sovereignty and regional integration?

• Author: Amer, Ramses

Introduction

Vietnam's border disputes can be studied from various perspectives; this study focuses on the current status of the disputes, that is, whether the disputes are settled or not. Since some of the border disputes have been settled, the overview of the disputes is divided into two categories: the settled disputes and the unresolved disputes.

Agreements Relating to Border Disputes

* On 18 July 1977 Laos and Vietnam signed a treaty delimiting the land boundary between the countries. Following the completion of the demarcation process, a complementing treaty was signed on 24 January 1986. On I March 1990 an additional protocol was signed and on the same day an agreement on border regulation was signed. (2)

* On 7 July 1982 Vietnam and the then People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) signed an agreement on "historic waters" located between the coast of Kien Giang province, Phu Quoc island, and the Tho Chu islands on the Vietnamese side and the coast of Kampot province and the Poulo Wai islands on the Cambodian side. The agreement stipulated that the two countries would hold, "at a suitable time", negotiations to determine the maritime frontier in the "historic waters". Pending such a settlement, the two sides would continue to regard the Brevie Line drawn in 1939 as the dividing line for the islands within the "historic waters" and the exploitation of the zone would be decided by "common agreement". (3) On 20 July 1983 the two countries signed a treaty on the principles for the settlement of border problems and an agreement on border regulations (BBC/FE 7393 A3/1) and Quang (1986, pp. 8-9). Finally, on 27 December 1985 the two countries signed the Treaty on the Delimitation of the Vietnam-Kampuchea frontier. (4)

* On 5 June 1992 an agreement was reached between Malaysia and Vietnam to jointly develop the areas of overlapping claims to continental shelf areas to the southwest of Vietnam and to the east-northeast off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia in the Gulf of Thailand (Amer 1995, p. 306; Nguyen H.T. 1999, pp. 79-88; Nguyen H.T. 2002a, pp. 53-56).

* On 9 August 1997 Thailand and Vietnam reached an agreement delimiting their continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) boundaries in a disputed area in the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest of Vietnam and to the northeast of Thailand (BBC/FE 2996 B/4-5; Nguyen H.T. 1997, pp. 74-79; Nguyen H.T. 1998, pp. 7-10; 2002a, pp. 51-53).

* On 30 December 1999 China and Vietnam signed a Land Border Treaty settling the land border dispute between the two countries. (5)

* On 25 December 2000 China and Vietnam signed the Agreement on the Delimitation of the Territorial Seas, Exclusive Economic Zones and Continental Shelves in the Gulf of Tonkin, settling their maritime boundary disputes in the Gulf. (6) On the same day the two countries signed an agreement on fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin. (7)

* On 11 June 2003 Vietnam and Indonesia signed an agreement on the delimitation of their continental shelf boundary in an area to the north of the Natuna Islands. (8)

Unsettled Border Disputes

* The agreements between Vietnam and Cambodia reached in the 1980s were not recognized by all parties within Cambodia for most of the 1990s. New bilateral talks on the status of their borders between the countries have been initiated to reach a solution to remaining disputed issues. Therefore, in the context of this study, the border disputes between Vietnam and Cambodia cannot be considered as resolved and they are listed among the unsettled disputes. The disputes encompass both areas along the land border and overlapping claims to maritime areas in the Gulf of Thailand. (9)

* Between Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam there is a multilateral dispute relating to an area of overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand. (10)

* Between Malaysia and Vietnam the major dispute relates to Vietnam's claim of sovereignty over the whole Spratly archipelago, which overlaps the Malaysian claim to the southern part of the archipelago (Amer 1995, pp. 305-6; Prescott 1985, pp. 218-22; Valencia 1991, pp. 54-66). These parts of the Archipelago are also claimed by China and Taiwan, with a smaller part of the disputed area being claimed by the Philippines.

* Between the Philippines and Vietnam there is a dispute in the South China Sea where Vietnam's sovereignty claim to the whole Spratly archipelago overlaps the Filipino claim to the major part of it (Amer 1995, pp. 306-8; Prescott 1985, pp. 218-22). These parts of the Archipelago are also claimed by China and Taiwan, as well as partly claimed by Malaysia.

* Between China and Vietnam the overlapping sovereignty claims to the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos are still unresolved. The same applies to China's claims to the historical waters within the so-called dotted line to the east of the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea.

* Vietnam's claims to the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos also overlap with Taiwan's claims to the two archipelagos.

* Between Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam overlapping claims to the 200-mile EEZ could emerge if the two countries started to assert their claims to the islands and reefs in the South China Sea (Valencia 1991, pp. 48-50, 66-67).

Between Conflict Management and Tension

The developments since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 display that during the second half of the 1970s Vietnam and Laos reached agreements relating to the border dividing their countries, with the demarcation being finalized in 1990. Officially, the two countries did not refer to any border dispute between them but the outcome of the demarcation process displayed that areas of overlapping claims existed and that such differences were resolved in the negotiation and demarcation processes. Interestingly enough, despite Laos' dependency on Vietnam the border agreements and demarcation were not to its detriment, that is, Laos did not have to give up substantial areas to Vietnam. In fact, the borderline is "very close" to the 1945 border between Laos and Tonkin and Annam, respectively. (11)

During the 1980s there were the agreements between Vietnam and the then PRK in 1982, 1983, and 1985. However, there was no progress in negotiating the border disputes with member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and with China. The Cambodian conflict prevented progress to the extent that except for talks with Indonesia and Cambodia, no talks on border issues took place between Vietnam and its other neighbours for the duration of the Cambodian conflict 1979-91.

The 1990s displayed considerable progress in negotiations. A joint development agreement (JDA) was reached with Malaysia in 1992 in an area of bilateral dispute in the Gulf of Thailand. The negotiations between Vietnam and Thailand eventually resulted in the agreement on the maritime boundaries of 1997 in areas of bilateral dispute in the Gulf of Thailand. In 1995 Vietnam and the Philippines agreed on a "code of conduct" to be observed by the two countries in the South China Sea. More notable progress during the 1990s was the initiation of trilateral talks between Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand relating to an area of the Gulf of Thailand where the claims of the three countries overlap. These talks were made possible by the maritime boundary agreement between Vietnam and Thailand in 1997.

The claims of Taiwan and Vietnam, respectively, to the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos overlap, and Vietnam has made official statements criticizing Taiwanese activities in the Spratlys in recent years. However, Vietnam does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country. (12) Vietnam adheres to the "one China policy", implying that Vietnam is committed to recognize China only and not Taiwan. Thus, Vietnam cannot enter into official talks with Taiwan over the overlapping claims by the two parties.

Given the extent of the border disputes between China and Vietnam along the land border, in the Gulf of Tonkin, and in the South China Sea, these disputes deserve a more extensive analysis; during the process leading up to the full normalization of relations between the two countries in November 1991 the border disputes were not resolved. (13)

Following the full normalization of relations the major part of the 1990s was characterized by a fluctuating level of tensions relating to the border disputes. Sharp differences relating to all the border disputes, that is, overlapping claims to the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos; to water and continental shelf areas in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin; and to areas along the land border, were prevalent from May to November 1992. Differences relating to oil exploration in the South China Sea and the signing of contracts with foreign companies for exploration were prevalent during the periods April-June 1994, April-May 1996, and March-April 1997. In 1998 there was no extended period of tension relating to the border disputes but tension of shorter periods occurred, such as in January along the land border and in the South China Sea in April, May, July, and September. (14)

To cope with the fluctuating level of tension relating to the border disputes the two countries developed a system of talks at the expert, government, and high levels to deal with the border issues. Talks at the government level began in August 1993 and the eleventh round of talks was held in December 2004. (15) The first achievement was the signing of an agreement on 19 October 1993 on the principles for handling the land border and Gulf of Tonkin disputes. It was further agreed to set up joint working groups at the expert level to deal with the two issues. The joint working group on the land border held 16 rounds of talks from February 1994 to the signing of the Land Border Treaty in December 1999. (16) The joint working group on the Gulf of Tonkin met 17 times from March 1994 to the signing of the Agreement on the Delimitation of the Territorial Seas...