Vietnam says China must avoid trade weapon in maritime spat

[beijingwalker]

Vietnam says China must avoid trade weapon in maritime spat
Last Updated: Monday, December 03, 2012 02:00:00

Vietnam said China should avoid using trade as a weapon in maritime disagreements after diplomatic tensions led to a slump in exports from Japan when Chinese consumers boycotted the goods of its Asian neighbor.

“Economic force should not be applied in the case of settlement of territorial disputes,” which should be addressed through international law, Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh said in a Nov. 28 interview in Hanoi. He said he had “observed” Japan’s conflict with China. Japan reported last month that its exports to China tumbled 12 percent.

China’s emergence as the largest export destination for markets from Japan to South Korea offers it a potential lever as frictions escalate over such claims as the Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands in the East China Sea and the Spratlys in the South China Sea, which are estimated to hold energy reserves. Vietnamese officials plan to meet Dec. 12 with Southeast Asian counterparts to discuss ways of addressing conflicts with China.

‘Acutely aware’

“The Vietnamese are acutely aware of the potential for China to adversely affect Vietnam’s economy,” said Jonathan London, assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong’s Department of Asian and International Studies. Vietnam and the Philippines are “busily forming a smaller group of like-minded countries in Southeast Asia -- whether or not that can be paired with the US Pacific pivot and Japan’s increasing wariness of Chinese expansion remains to be seen.”

China was Vietnam’s largest economic partner in 2011, with bilateral trade totaling $36 billion, excluding figures for Hong Kong, according to preliminary data from Vietnam’s General Statistics Office -- an increase from $27 billion a year earlier.

Vietnam’s economy is set to grow at its slowest pace in 13 years in 2012 after policy makers tightened credit to stem inflation. Gross domestic product may rise 5.5 percent in 2013, little changed from this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung indicated in a Nov. 28 interview.

 

[terranMarine]

posted already

http://www.defence.pk/forums/china-far-east/222674-vietnam-warns-china-not-use-trade-weapon.html

 

[Pakchina]

Why China must avoid trade weapon? Why such discrimination on China? The US, a supposedly democratic and free country, has always used trade as a weapon in any conflict. For instance, US imposes trade embargo since 1962 on Cuba for the missile conflict which had been resolved in 1962 but the discriminative embargo still stands good in 2012, US imposes trade embargo on Palestine just like Israel, US has imposed trade embargo during the Libyan conflict, US is using trade weapon on Iran etc. So why trade weapon could be used by the US and other western countries and not China. This is usual discrimination. Moreover, US also uses trade weapon in any conflict with China for instance by imposing discrimnative tariffs on Chinese products not only in the case of trade conflicts but also in the case of geo-political conflicts. Any weapon is essential and should be used by China and trade weapon is the less leathal indirectly, so, why such non leathal weapon could not be used by China? Vietnam had accepted that the US used chemical weapons to kill Vietnamese women and children but does not accept that China uses trade weapon?

 

[terranMarine]

Very good point my friend, if these Vietcongs hate China so much which you can see how they label us as the aggressive bully then i see no problem China should stop doing business with them. They already say China invests very little in their economy and that it is Japan who is their biggest investor and making Vietnam grow. Without Vietnam China still have plenty of trading partners and besides what can a midget do if this giant is gonna use trade embargo, declare us war? It's no big loss if we stop doing business with each other and there's no killings going on, let the SCS dispute continue.

 

[Rechoice]

without china we can do business with other countries in the world.

 

[beijingwalker]

without china we can do business with other countries in the world.

you whole economy now is in China's hand,so easier said than done,isn't it?

 

[Rechoice]

you whole economy now is in China's hand,so easier said than done,isn't it?

funny joke of the day, brain washed Manchu boy by CPC propaganda.

 

[beijingwalker]

Most of Vietnam’s major projects in Chinese hands
8/7/2010 17:40

Chinese's predominant role in many of Vietnam’s major projects is sparking concerns among national officials.

Up to 90 percent of Vietnam’s Engineering - Procurement -Construction (EPC) projects are in the hands of Chinese contractors, said Pham Thi Loan of the National Assembly’s Finance and Budgets Committee, at a conference held Friday in Hanoi.

EPC contractors draft designs, procure necessary materials and oversee construction of an entire project. They are entitled to bring in their own labor force or subcontract work to Vietnamese firms.

Most of these projects pertain to oil and gas, chemicals, power, and textiles, Loan said at the conference.

Up to 30 Chinese companies have secured contracts for the country’s major projects, including energy deals worth of billions of dollars, according to VNExpress.

Vietnam will continue to invest in huge development projects, but “if Chinese companies continue to control major energy contracts, the nation's energy security will remain very disconcerting,” Loan was quoted as saying.

Economics expert Bui Kien Thanh attributes the dominance of Chinese contractors to complex bidding specifications. The large projects often require bidders to meet international standards. At the moment, he says very few Vietnamese companies are eligable for these jobs.

Thanh added that Vietnamese companies are rarely sub-contracted by the Chinese firms who are known for importing labor and materials.

Other experts have expressed concern that local manufacturers and laborers have not been given preference, leaving the door wide open for foreign companies to seek government business.

The experts alleged that a reliance on foreign contractors has put Vietnam at risk of adding to its trade deficit, which was the nation's biggest economic bugaboo this year.

According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam’s trade deficit stood at US$7.4 billion over the past seven months, accounting for 19.4 percent of export turnover.

Last month the trade deficit reached $1.15 billion (or 19.8 percent of export turnover). The government, meanwhile, has previously expressed an interest in keeping that figure below 20 percent, VnExpress said.

Last month the trade deficit reached $1.15 billion (or 19.8 percent of export turnover). The government, meanwhile, has previously expressed an interest in keeping that figure below 20 percent, VnExpress said

 

[Sedqal]

lols, China vs Veit are the best troll threads

 

[rcrmj]

you whole economy now is in China's hand,so easier said than done,isn't it?

of course, their incompetent vietcongs cant do anything but to brainwash those clueless viets
look how their government managed their economy when the world was at boom or at difficulties
Run on Vietnam's biggest bank highlights threat to economy - Telegraph
More trouble ahead, economists warn

 

[Pakistanisage]

without china we can do business with other countries in the world.

Good, then stop whining like a little girl. If you are going to mess with China there will be hell to pay. If you don't like to be Bit*h slapped then stop messing with China and don't try to bite the hand that feeds you.

 

[Rechoice]

Most of Vietnam’s major projects in Chinese hands
8/7/2010 17:40

It related to projects funded by soft loan from China only. he he.
Vietnam economy around 60 % controlled by State Own Company. The rest 40 % is running by FDI and private sectors, it belong to Japan, Singapore, Malaysian, Taiwan, US, Eurozon countries ... and how many in rest percentage in hands of china ?

Good, then stop whining like a little girl. If you are going to mess with China there will be hell to pay. If you don't like to be Bit*h slapped then stop messing with China and don't try to bite the hand that feeds you.

You can care for Pakistan first, don;t troll if you don't understand nothings.

 

[beijingwalker]

Vietnam: Under the weight of China
August 27th, 2011

Author: Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam National University

Some researchers liken China to a rooster, with Korea as its beak and Vietnam its leg

The analogy highlights the strategic importance of Vietnam toward China, especially in terms of security, while also suggesting that Vietnam must live under China’s weight. Vietnam is therefore, in Carlyle Thayer’s words, condemned to a ‘tyranny of geography’ where it has no choice but to learn to share its destiny with neighbouring China.

A stronger China has long been the most serious threat to Vietnam’s security. Vietnam came under Chinese suzerainty for almost a thousand years until 938 CE. Even after the French colonisation of Vietnam in the latter half of the 19th century, China was still deeply involved in Vietnam through invasion and occupation, as illustrated by the brief yet bloody war China waged along Vietnam’s northern border in 1979 and the naval clash initiated by China in the South China Sea in March 1988.

This threat posed by China toward Vietnam comes not only from geographical proximity but also the asymmetry of size and power between the two countries. China is 29 times larger than Vietnam, while Vietnam’s population, despite being the world’s 14th largest, is still only equivalent to one of China’s mid-sized provinces.

Vietnam’s impressive economic performance since the late 1980s hasn’t allowed it to close the gap in strength. This is because China’s own economic modernisation has caused the power gap between the two countries to become ever wider. According to World Bank data, China’s GDP expanded more than 16 times between 1985 and 2009 from US$307 billion to US$4.985 trillion. Vietnam’s GDP increased only seven times over the same period, from US$16 billion in 1985 to US$97 billion in 2009.

With its economic development, China’s military might has grown significantly, posing a formidable threat to Vietnam’s security. According to China’s official statements, its military budget for 2011 is US$91.5 billion, while Vietnam is said to have allocated US$2.6 billion. Particularly worrying for Vietnam is that China’s expanding military budget is concentrated on its air force and navy, strengthening China’s capacity to project power into the South China Sea where China and Vietnam have competing claims.

Vietnam’s transformation toward an open market economy also adds another aspect to this tyranny of geography: increased economic vulnerability.

Another vulnerability is Vietnam’s perennial trade deficit with China, amounting to US$5.4 billion out of the country’s total trade deficit of US$7.5 billion in the first half of 2011. China has also emerged as Vietnam’s largest source of imports, accounting for almost a quarter of its import turnover in 2010. Vietnam is heavily dependent on China for input materials for some of its major export industries, while Vietnam’s exports to China are just a minuscule portion of China’s total imports. Should China discontinue trade with Vietnam for some reason, the damage to Vietnam’s economy would be immense.

Another concern is that Chinese companies have won up to 90 per cent of EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts for Vietnam’s major industrial projects, especially those of coal-fired power plants. Chinese contractors are favoured as they offer cheap technology and promise to help arrange financial funding from Chinese banks.

Vietnam continues to actively do business with China, especially given the allures of its northern neighbour’s booming economy. But, as an old Vietnamese saying goes, honey kills flies. The lesson here is that it is essential Vietnam stay fully aware of China’s potential threat; it must develop strategies to at least neutralise the economic aspects of the tyranny of geography the country increasingly suffers from.

 

[Battle of Bach Dang River]

Most of Vietnam’s major projects in Chinese hands
8/7/2010 17:40

In other words, most of the thermal power plants in Vietnam which built with China's Yuan. Thanks to CCP brother!

 

[Rechoice]

Vietnam: Under the weight of China
August 27th, 2011

Author: Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam National University

This guy may be Vietnamese Wei Wei or Guang Sheng... he he. This spam can make Vietnamese to be more anti-China. Bravo !