It takes a long time to get to the middle of nowhere. For a
contingent of almost 40 reporters, hours of waiting both on land and
then at sea preceded a trip to one of the world's most hotly contested
areas of maritime real estate.The Vietnamese government
had been at pains to keep this media trip under wraps, keeping print,
online and broadcast journalists from Asia and the United States
guessing as to the day and time of departure.That secrecy may have
been for naught: at a pre-departure briefing we are told that while the
Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not formally informed its
Chinese counterpart of the presence of journalists in the area, a Coast
Guard official mentions that "chances are" China knows about it. 
But depart we do,
boarding a small coastguard support vessel Monday evening as the sun
dies over Da Nang, bound for the disputed waters surrounding the South
China Sea's Paracel Islands, known to China as the Xisha Islands.China's controversial
installation of an oil-rig in these waters at the beginning of May
sparked protests -- some of which turned violent -- in Vietnam and
statements from a variety of world leaders, urging the two sides to
resolve this dispute quickly and without bloodshed.
READ: Chinese ships reach Vietnam to evacuate citizensOne side, at least,
appears to be in agreement. "The Vietnamese Coast Guard are committed to
resolving the situation peacefully," says Hoang Tuan Anh, the captain
of the supply ship upon which we hitch a ride.
Strictly utilitarian, our
sturdy ride boasts one 125mm cannon on its prow and two 14.5mm guns
aft. It is the kind of supply ship that every coast guard needs, and
also houses a huge number of plastic 10-gallon jugs of drinking water, a
galley piled with vegetables, and a bevy of live chickens under one of
the exterior staircases -- supplies badly needed by their crew mates and
friends on the front line.As the sun rises again
the next morning, we're still chugging steadily toward our destination,
claimed by both China and Vietnam.
Vietnamese boat sinks after collision with Chinese vessel
Clear messageA mid-sea ship change to
CG 8003 -- and slightly less cramped conditions -- awaits us as noon
approaches. By then we have reached the area where China had, earlier in
the month, unilaterally planted a flag on this area of supposedly oil
rich sea. The flag, in this case, was an imposing oil-rig that sent a
clear message: the Xisha Islands are ours to do with what we will.
No buoys mark the
territory, and there is no landfall in sight: just a shimmering expanse
of deep water, albeit one with the promise of fossil fuel riches
beneath.As we arrive news comes
that the rig -- run by state-owned oil company the China National
Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) -- has been moved: no small task for
something as big and unwieldy -- yet politically volatile.The operation to move
the structure began on Monday morning and was completed by 10.30 p.m.
local time, just hours after our voyage began but, equally, hours before
we arrived in the zone.
Approaching the area,
dots on the horizon become ships, which then become a flotilla -- or
perhaps more accurately two separate flotilla -- of both Chinese and
Vietnamese commercial and coast guard vessels.This mishmash of fishing
and military vessels is all that remains of the flashpoint of a couple
of weeks ago, and in a seemingly stage-crafted set of maneuvers dance
around this expanse of utterly blue, clear sea.
Aggressive foghorns
It's a lively affair,
alternating between angry, static-y rhetoric that informs the Chinese
that they are in violation of international law, and aggressive foghorns
and sirens, raising a cacophony on this otherwise peaceful, sunny
afternoon."I've traveled out to
these waters many times but recently the Chinese have been more
aggressive towards the Vietnamese," says Hoang, captain of the support
vessel. "I'm proud to protect Vietnam."The dance is supervised
by the respective country's coast guard vessels, who hopefully have too
much sense to engage directly with each other. But hanging over the
day's events is the knowledge that just hours before, a Chinese fishing
vessel had rammed and sunk one of its Vietnamese counterparts.
No lives were lost in
this incident but it is the first time that a boat has been sunk in this
chapter of the often-acrimonious relationship between these two
ideologically similar neighbors.
As the afternoon begins
to wrap up, one of the larger Chinese coast-guard vessel homes in on our
ship, horn blasting incoherently as it attempts a little maritime
brinksmanship.
Nobody on board CG 8003
seems to be overly worried, although life jackets are donned as a
fillip. Like a dog reaching the end of its chain, the Chinese vessel
barks at us a few remaining times, before turning heel.Off the starboard bow,
two other Chinese vessels harry a smaller Vietnamese fishing boat,
pushing it further from the center of this disagreement which, if left
untended, could have dramatic consequences for these two countries, key
players in a region that is -- perhaps belatedly -- starting to buck
under the weight of Chinese hegemony.
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