Vietnam's national interests and the law of the sea

This article explores the relationship between Vietnam's national interests and the international law of the sea. Vietnam's national interests in the marine sphere include defense (the maintenance of a maritime buffer); international relations (enhancing its regional position through joint development and favorable resolution of boundary and fisheries disputes); and economics (stimulating development of its maritime resources). Although ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention would be somewhat disadvantageous to Vietnam's maritime defense strategy, many provisions would promote Vietnam's interests. Moreover, ratification and implementation of the Convention would signal Vietnam's support for international law and its desire to “rejoin”; the community of Southeast Asian nations. It might also encourage resolution of its boundary disputes, thus opening new areas to resource exploration and development by foreign companies.     

A Note on the United States and the Law of the Sea: Looking Back and Moving Forward

Since the Antarctic Treaty was negotiated in 1959, there have been substantial developments in the law of the sea. One of the most significant developments has been the recognition granted to coastal state entitlements to claim a range of offshore maritime areas. Yet, one of the principal aims of the Antarctic Treaty was to eliminate sovereignty disputes between territorial claimants, and the treaty placed limitations on the assertion of new claims. Nevertheless, most Antarctic territorial claimants have asserted some form of Antarctic maritime claim. This article particularly considers Australia's position toward maritime claims offshore the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT). It reviews the limitations imposed by the Antarctic Treaty, the difficulties in determining baselines in Antarctica, Australia's practice in declaring Antarctic maritime claims, and the potential range of maritime boundaries that Australia may one day have to delimit with neighboring states in the Southern Ocean.     

Universalizing the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea Dispute

This article argues that a resolution of the maritime disputes in the South China Sea must be based upon a universalist framework where the maritime interests of the world are upheld. The article discusses the universalist framework of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the universalist approach taken by the Tribunal on 12 July 2016 in the South China Sea Arbitration regarding the extinguishment of a state's “exceptionalist” maritime claims and the adoption of strict criteria for the characterization of features at sea.     

The domestic context of Brazilian maritime policy

Abstract

The domestic context of Brazil's emerging maritime policy is discussed from three perspectives. Basic national policy guidelines are examined first, with particular attention given to their, influence in shaping maritime policy. Bureaucratic politics has shaped, and been shaped by, these guidelines, and is examined in a subsequent section. International politics, too, has played an important role in shaping Brazilian maritime policy, and its relationship to the domestic context is explored in a final section. The crucial decision to extend the territorial sea to 200 mi in 1970, including its historical background and aftermath, illustrates these forces shaping maritime policy. Other maritime issues are analyzed to illustrate these forces when relevant.

It is acknowledged that Brazil's prominent position in the South Atlantic has not led it to become a maritime‐oriented state. Increasing efforts have nevertheless been made during the past decade to utilize ocean space and the resources of the sea for national policy ends. As Brazilian maritime policy gained cohesiveness and dynamism in the late 1960s and 1970s, it became complementary to national economic progress and increasingly involved in international economic and political questions.     

Climate change and its impacts on Vietnam agriculture: A macroeconomic perspective

Vietnam is an important contributor to the world's food industry as a major exporter of rice, seafood, and coffee. Climate change poses a serious threat to Vietnam's agricultural sector since it adversely affects food security in Vietnam and globally. This study investigates the short- and long-term effects of climate change on Vietnam's agriculture, both in terms of production and values at the macro level. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the Toda-Yamamoto (1995) Granger causality test with annual data from 1990 to 2019, we confirm the detrimental impacts of global warming on Vietnam's agricultural performance in both the short and long term. We also reveal the favorable effects of CO₂ emissions, land, and fertilizer on Vietnam's agricultural production and economics. Other factors, including rainfall and labor, however, adversely affect Vietnam's agricultural output and economic performance. Based on the study's results, we provide policy recommendations to assist the government limit the negative effects of climate change on the national economy, thereby promoting poverty alleviation and sustainable development in Vietnam.     

Korean Peninsula Maritime Issues

In the unique situation of the Korean Peninsula, which is still technically in a state of war, maritime issues are increasingly becoming critical in the relations between South Korea and North Korea. While cooperation in maritime affairs has helped to ease tensions and paved a way to reconciliatory efforts, maritime disputes adjacent to the Northern Limit Lines in the West and East Seas and maritime security issues such as South Korea's engagement in the Proliferation Security Initiative remain a source of conflict. This article looks at maritime affairs on the Korean Peninsula—a leading area of cooperation between the South and the North as well as a potential conflict flash point.     

The Sino-Vietnamese Agreement on Maritime Boundary Delimitation in the Gulf of Tonkin

This article addresses the recently ratified Sino-Vietnamese Boundary Delimitation Agreement in the Gulf of Tonkin and its implications for bilateral cooperation and development of friendly and neighboring relations between China and Vietnam. As the first maritime boundary line for China, the delimitation in the Gulf of Tonkin is indicative of China's positive attitude towards the resolution of other maritime issues with Vietnam and other neighboring countries.     

Third Party Intervention in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf Regarding a Submission Involving a Dispute

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) was established in accordance with Article 76 of the Law of the Sea Convention. CLCS has the mandate to consider data submitted by coastal states concerning the outer limits of their continental shelf in areas where those limits extend beyond 200 nautical miles and to make recommendations to the submitting state on matters related to the establishment of the limits. For third parties that have actual or potential disputes, unresolved borders, or unresolved land or maritime disputes with the submitting state, the recommendations of the CLCS can be very sensitive. The focus of this article is on the practice of third parties in responding to submissions and how third parties have constructed their Notifications.     

The 1985 guinea/guinea‐bissau maritime boundary case and its implications

The 1985 Guinea/Guinea‐Bissau maritime boundary case was a landmark decision in maritime delimitation. For the first time, sub‐Saharan African states resorted to third‐party settlement, thereby making a significant contribution to the developing state practice on maritime delimitation. The Arbitration Tribunal took an unprecedented “regional approach,”; which had a direct effect on the two neighboring countries, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The Award provides lessons for unresolved conflicts and has implications for areas of future dispute such as in the Gulf of Guinea, where Cameroon has initiated proceedings against Nigeria.     

Disrupting ‘a man's world’: gender,technology, and class in Vietnam's global heavy industry

Only rarely is Vietnam's global heavy industry studied from an anthropological perspective in either its gender or its class dimensions. This article contributes new insights into the ways in which the interagential dynamics of gender and technology from shopfloor to engineer offices coproduce social orders in contesting and perpetuating essentializing notions of femininity and masculinity. Blue-collar and white-collar women working in heavy industrial workplaces represent a minority in ‘a man's world’, ambiguously both disidentifying and identifying with notions of a typical ‘female character’ vis-à-vis ‘male character’. Women working in heavy industry, the article shows, generate ‘disruption’ by reconfiguring conventions regarding gendered occupation, redefining gendered engagement with technology, and recalibrating images of femininity and masculinity. Doing so means carving out new opportunities and/or provoking crisis in a patrilineal universe. The article analyses the intricate ways in which women's engagement with technology is empowering while simultaneously reinforcing gender- and class-specific inequalities in socialist Vietnam's global market economy.     

Potential vessel collisions with Southern Hemisphere humpback whales wintering off Pacific Panama

Vessel collision is a threat to many whale species, and the risk has increased with expanding maritime traffic. This compromises international conservation efforts and requires urgent attention from the world's maritime industry. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are at the top of the death toll, and although Central America is a wintering area for populations from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, existing efforts to reduce ship‐whale collisions are meager. Herein, we evaluated the potential collisions between vessels and humpback whales wintering off Pacific Panama by following the movements of 15 whales tagged with satellite transmitters and comparing these data with tracks plotted using AIS real‐time latitude‐longitude points from nearly 1,000 commercial vessels. Movements of whales (adults and calves) in the Gulf of Panama coincide with major commercial maritime routes. AIS vessel data analyzed for individual whale satellite tracks showed that 53% (8 whales) of whales had 98 encounters within 200 m with 81 different vessels in just 11 d. We suggest implementing a 65 nmi Traffic Separation Scheme and a 10 kn maximum speed for vessel routing into the Gulf of Panama during the wintering season. In so doing, the area for potential whale‐vessel collisions could be reduced by 93%.     

The anxiety of romantic love in Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam

This article examines the role of anxieties about romantic love in the modernist self‐making projects of Vietnam's growing middle class. Romantic ideals and discourses that emerged from Vietnam's neoliberal reforms emphasize personal compatibility through emotional intimacy and communication. Middle‐class residents of Ho Chi Minh City increasingly privilege the emotions in daily life and define themselves and their relationships in an affective register. This cultivation of emotional self‐reflexivity has, however, become a source of anxiety about the self. An analysis of two case studies traces how individuals draw on their class, gender, and age to negotiate conflicts between various models of love and selfhood and reinvent romantic discourses to claim their own versions of a modern identity. A critical component of both the experience of romantic love and the construction of middle‐class Vietnamese selfhood, love anxiety stems not just from people's changed relations to others but also from a changed perception of the self, which has been rendered unrecognizable to them.     

The Expansion of and Changes to the National Coast Guards in East Asia

Abstract

East Asian countries have vigorously engaged in a buildup of the capabilities of their coast guards. This has been driven in part by the need to protect their maritime jurisdiction in the face of numerous maritime disputes. The coast guards in East Asia serve as the front-line defender of sovereignty and maritime claims.     

China and Japan Maritime Disputes in the East China Sea: A Note on Recent Developments

This article examines recent developments in the East China Sea maritime disputes, focusing primarily on the Principled Consensus agreed on by China and Japan for the joint development of energy resources. The article also provides a perspective on the East China Sea maritime disputes between the two countries within the context of international relations.     

A Tribunal Navigating Complex Waters: Implications of the Bay of Bengal Case

The International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea's March 2012 Judgment in the Bay of Bengal Case is a landmark decision in multiple ways. It represents the first maritime boundary to be delimitated by the Tribunal. It is the first adjudication of a maritime boundary in Asia, and it is also the first judicial delimitation of a maritime boundary for parts of the extended continental shelf located seaward of the 200-nautical-mile limit from baselines. While the Tribunal's ruling largely resolves the maritime dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar, it also raises a number of questions and concerns that are highlighted in this article, including the Tribunal's approach to delimitation both within and beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit, the treatment of islands, the interplay between law of the sea institutions and the creation of a so-called grey area where continental shelf jurisdiction falls to one state and water column jurisdiction to the other.     

China,Vietnam, and the South China Sea: Disputes and Dispute Management

This article examines recent developments in the South China Sea; in particular, the China-Vietnam relationship. The developments are presented in the broader context of the Sino-Vietnamese approach to managing border disputes since full normalization of relations in late 1991. The challenges for China and Vietnam in managing their disputes and related tension in the South China Sea are also discussed.     

Estimating the Material Stock of Roads: The Vietnamese Case Study

This study is a pioneering effort to quantify the materials stocked in the road network of a developing country, Vietnam, and analyze its relationships to the country's recent economic development. National road networks function as capital and infrastructure investments that are necessary catalysts for countries’ development, while requiring the extraction of vast amounts of construction materials for expansion and maintenance causing environmental impacts. However, there has so far been little research on the subject, especially in developing countries. We compile material stock and flow accounts for Vietnam's roads from 2003 to 2013 on the national and provincial levels, finding that approximately 40% of the domestic consumption of construction materials is for expanding and maintaining the road network, and the materials stocked in the road network doubled from 1,321 million metric tons in 2003 to 2,660 million metric tons in 2012. Material stock growth rates closely resembled those of gross domestic product (GDP) in this period, suggesting a codependency of physical infrastructure development and economic development. On the provincial level, our results show local disparities in the stock and its capacity to support the transportation of passengers and freight, especially considering the surging growth of vehicles in urban centers. By showcasing the challenges of conducting a material flow and stock analysis in a developing country, this study not only sheds light on Vietnam's transportation material stock and its policy implications, but also serves as a case study for further work in similar countries.     

Louisiana's Oysters, America's Wetlands, and the Storms of 2005

When Katrina made landfall near Empire, Louisiana's "oyster capital," it devastated the public and private oyster grounds of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes. Rita followed with similar damage in parishes to the west of the Mississippi River. These storms thus struck at a core of Louisiana's maritime heritage. Much attention has focused on the physical and social destruction these events have caused in New Orleans and on the failures of the public response efforts. Social scientists are in a position to assess such damages and to critique this collective failure of response. In this article, I seek to contribute to a parallel assessment of the potential of the oyster industry to recover from the storms of 2005, after a decade of substantial diminishment in political and economic power and public support.     

Maritime Delimitation and Fishery Cooperation in the Tonkin Gulf

In June 2004 China and Vietnam ratified both a maritime boundary agreement for the Tonkin Gulf (Beibu Gulf) and a fisheries cooperation agreement for the Gulf. These agreements end years of negotiation and debate regarding the rights of the respective states to the ocean areas and resources in the Gulf.     

The Issue of Jurisdiction Over Mixed Disputes in the Chagos Marine Protection Area Arbitration and Beyond

The real issue in the Chagos Marine Protection Area Arbitration should have been the dispute concerning the Lancaster House Undertakings, over which the Arbitral Tribunal had no jurisdiction. The UNCLOS has no express provision respecting the jurisdiction over mixed disputes—disputes involving territorial sovereignty and maritime boundary delimitation. Thus, a court or tribunal facing a mixed dispute should refrain from exercising its jurisdiction over the maritime issue if its resolution is premised on the resolution of the sovereignty issue involved.