Vietnam’s Regional Tensions & Growing Pains

By: Lucas Hakes-Rodriguez

Produced and Edited By: Sam Campbell

Workers at a site in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo via World Bank/Flickr.

The relationship between China and Vietnam is decidedly difficult. That’s putting it lightly.

In 2014, tensions between the two countries over a Chinese national oil company moving a platform into the South China Sea resulted in protests, and then riots, in Vietnam. This conflict in the hotly disputed waters has been ongoing, but it’s recently grown inflamed as China flexes superiority in the South China Sea, and thereby, in many countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones.

But Vietnam is also developing because of China, as much as it would like to think it’s doing so in spite of its hefty neighbor to the North, who consistently provides official development assistance (ODAs) to Vietnam. This assistance is multifaceted, be it in the form of building factories, setting up company branches in-country, or mining its natural resources.

“I do hate what China has done to Vietnam.”

China is investing money in Vietnam so that Vietnam can help grease the big Chinese machine, which has been losing momentum as of recent. 

But the ongoing rout in disputed waters is dampening China’s scarcely-perceived good will towards the people of Vietnam. Many laypersons in Vietnam take issue with the Chinese government’s behavior. 

Phuong Do, a junior majoring in English language teaching methodology in Ho Chi Minh City, said, “One of the most strictly illegal actions that China has carried out in Vietnam may be the violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelago."

“I personally think illegal actions of China are morally unacceptable as they cause [sic] bad impact on Vietnam and China as well.”

This conflict between the two governments is unfortunate, in that the Vietnamese people typically don’t have hang-ups over the Chinese people themselves. “I do hate what China has done to Vietnam,” read a comment from Maily Dao, a software engineer from Hanoi, on the answer crowdsourcing website Quora.

“To be exact, [I hate the actions of] the Chinese government. However, as a person, I don’t hate the Chinese people, [because] most of them seem [sic] to be oblivious to what their government has done to neighboring countries.”

Indeed, China’s campaign of swallowing up nearby resources has relationship statuses set to “complicated.”

The Chinese government’s move toward corralling auxiliary income streams in international waters wouldn’t be so difficult to abhor in the minds and hearts of the Vietnamese if relations with China weren’t so beneficial to their development. 

Vietnam News reported that Chinese investment increased dramatically as of recent, from “$312 million in 2012 . . . [to] $7.9 billion in 2014.” In other words, many Vietnamese people see these money showers as Beijing trying to rub salve on the wound as it tears the skin.

The leniency of the Vietnamese government toward foreign investment in the name of rapid growth is allowing exploitative practices to slip through the cracks.

The rush to modernize Vietnam through foreign investment isn’t just a violation of sovereignty, argued Lee, a 21 year-old from Ho Chi Minh City who requested to have his surname and occupation withheld. 

The Taiwanese materials production company Formosa Plastics caused an uproar in April of 2016, when it illegally released toxic waste into the ocean in central Vietnam. “[The Formosa Company] used [the] sea for discharge.... the sea [became] very [polluted] ... [many] fish ... died … and [the] air [and] land [were polluted as well].”

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Vietnam) called Formosa’s 2016 toxic waste dump “the most serious environmental incident Vietnam has faced.” The result of the Taiwanese company’s gross negligence was widespread protest of foreign investment. 

This outrage is a sliver of an ongoing trend across the globe: nationalist sentiments causing people to recoil at the destabilizing potential of globalization. Make no mistake. The Formosa Company’s ecological disaster was not a product of China. But the leniency of the Vietnamese government toward foreign investment in the name of rapid growth is allowing exploitative practices to slip through the cracks.

The tumultuous economic environment in Vietnam is not an easily mendable situation. While it’s unique in that it’s growing and developing, in the already globalized age (and at the heart of a region hotly debated over thanks to globalization), Vietnam has its limitations. 

Oil rig in the South China Sea. Photo via Chris/Flickr.

While the Government of Vietnam has a voice over what happens on land, its presence on sea has been riddled with issues as it emerges as a semi-developed state. In 2014, from May to August, Vietnam had conflicts with the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, which built oilplatforms in Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone proper.

While China played the role of earnest adventurer in its own economic region, many countries decried its actions. Vietnamese citizens were particularly livid while the Vietnamese government sent envoys to disrupt China’s unwelcome harvest. 

As China continues to apply pressure, the Vietnamese people’s sense of entrapment will only rise.

Lee claimed the situation caused his country much “stress,” and the talks with China in the aftermath were “meaningless,” as they did not convince China to do much of anything.

Ultimately, these growing pains are a sign that when relying on a regional power for support, expecting them to stop with the coddling when it’s time to “spread one’s wings” is fanciful thinking. 

In response, Vietnam is looking across the Pacific to Washington, which has been opening up to Hanoi thanks to President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia.” The Obama Administration’s increased challenges towards Chinese claims of regional control has manifested itself across Southeast Asia, as the President just concluded a tour of countries ranging from Laos to Thailand. According to NPR reporter Michael Sullivan, he skipped the Philippines, after Filipino president, Rodrigo Duterte, called Obama a “son of a whore."

The region in the South China Sea is volatile, as a myriad of nations claim ownership over islands and waters. Vietnam, though still developing, has barriers to break if it hopes to attain economic stability, independence, and congeniality comparable to real players in the global market. 

As China continues to apply pressure, the Vietnamese people’s sense of entrapment will only rise. And as the government continues to allow Chinese money to influence its decisions, it will continue to lose its grasp on an increasingly impatient population and a worldwide economic system that’s indifferent to leaving it behind.

Pollution in Iran's Caspian Sea

By: Chelsa Lewis-Bevel
Produced & edited by Molly Nocheck

The wonders of the Caspian Sea have ancient origins. 1.8 million years ago, early hominids roamed the coastlines, and sought refuge next to this great body of water, which supplied them their every need. Today the people of the Caspian region still rely heavily on the resources provided by the Sea. But, this safe haven is in danger. An estimated 140 million tons of pollutants are poured into the sea every year.

Iran borders the southern part of the Caspian Sea. Of the five littoral states, it hosts the largest Caspian Sea coastline in relation to country size. The deepest area of the sea sits in the southern region, belonging to Iranian territory. Iran’s large coastline, and water depths up to 3,200ft, provides the country with opportunities to expand its coast based industries, and its oil industry. But, these expansions come with a price. Saeed Arjmand, a student studying environmental engineering at the University of Tehran, thinks pollution in the sea can get out of control if it’s not checked soon.

Photo Credit: presstv.ir. Academic Fair Use.

“In terms of pollution, the Caspian Sea is in critical condition,” he says.

Arjmand cites three ways Iran contributes to pollution in the sea; Sewage, agricultural waste, and its oil industry. Parvin Nassir, a member of the Iranian Society of Environmentalists, agrees.

“It’s a mixture of a bunch of different factors, different types of pollutants, coming from all across the coast, makes for a messy situation. It’s hard to pinpoint who’s to blame,” she says.

Scientists at the Caspian Research Station, in Noushahr, Iran, give some insight on how Iran is contributing to the pollution. Iranian sewage is a recent concern, as it produces bacterial pollution, which threatens the sea’s marine life. The country’s agricultural industry dumps waste such as fertilizers and pesticides as well as detergents into the sea. The main pollution sources of the Caspian Sea are the daily, extractions of crude oil and the transportation of the oil by the country’s oil industry.

Photo Credit: presstv.ir. Academic Fair Use.

“The traffic of large oil tankers dumps 122,350 tons of oil pollutants into the sea each year, alone”, says Nassir.

Iran’s contribution seems heavy, in this context, but the country’s pollution only accounts for 5% of all pollution in the Caspian Sea, according to the Iranian National Institute of Oceanography (INIO). Iran has a small share from polluting point of view, but it gets an extensive part of the pollution created by the other littoral states because of the sea currents in the Caspian Sea. The pollution in the Caspian Sea seems to be taking a toll of Iran the most.

Delbar Selim lives in Sari, a city in Iran’s Mazandaran Province, about 20 miles from the Caspian Sea shore. Citizens like Selim, who live by the shore fear for the Sea’s future.

“Some people, say 10 years from now, it will be too dangerous to even swim in the sea, I can’t even imagine that,” says Selim.

Coastal inhabitants have a bond with the seashore, according to Selim. And every year, they watch it getting worse. But the pollution is jeopardizing more that, the coastal culture. The pollution of the sea is causing the country some major economic losses, which include declining fishing revenues, changes in fishing expenditure, decreased aquaculture developments and property devaluation. The area is losing much of its attractiveness to tourists, who bring in a lot of revenue for coastal businesses. The country is also facing health issues. According to recent health statistics, diseases such as typhoid, dysentery and tuberculosis are 15 times more prevalent in coastal areas than in the remaining part of the country.

However, the country could be seeing better days, when it comes to pollution in the Caspian Sea. During the 15th meeting of the Association of Universities of Caspian Sea States, the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography was appointed as the center monitoring pollution in the Caspian Sea. This may give the country an opportunity to really assess the problem of pollution and come up with solutions that will benefit all littoral states.

The Institute has many plans for waste minimization; the most important is finding the problem. A report from the institute explains how they will address the growing issue. “The first plan is to identify the point sources of pollution in the Caspian seaboard. This includes the pollution from all industries, commercial places and cities around the Caspian Sea”.