#Hanoi

   Japan Coast Guard security team members display tracking and capture drills in October 2016  (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP, File) The sovereignty of the South China Sea has been hotly debated in recent years among China and the littoral nations (especially the Philippines and Vietnam).  Beijing lays claim to some 90 percent of the […]

Japan’s reputation for quality infrastructure is well-known in Asia, where Tokyo is hitting back at Beijing’s efforts at economic hegemony.

Following threats from Beijing, Vietnamese authorities have ordered a foreign joint venture to abandon its gas-drilling efforts in a disputed area of the South China Sea.

Just when Chinese and Vietnamese relations appeared to be going well, the waters of the South China Sea (and East Sea) may be heating up again.

Hanoi officially expressed its displeasure over Beijing’s annual fishing ban in the South China Sea at a regular press conference last week.

The unpredictable Duterte, has again changed course in the South China Sea, cancelling his plans to plant a flag on Thitu Island over Philippine Independence Day.

Hanoi has acknowledged its citizens’ newfound environmental activism, hoping to avoid any widespread social unrest. But it is also taking punitive measures to quell protests.

Vietnam reacted strongly in response to a recent visit by a Chinese cruise ship to the disputed Paracel archipelago. Hanoi pressed for an end to the cruise ship visits, which have taken hundreds of Chinese tourists to the island chain since 2013.

Vietnam and China pledged to settle disputes and to work toward a code of conduct for maritime operations after Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Beijing.

Hanoi has been actively fortifying its key holdings in the Spratlys, including the construction of a runway, tunnels and bunkers to defend its territory against China.

In downstream Vietnam, experts claim as much as 50% of the 2.2 million hectares of arable land in the delta had been hit by salinization due to the drought.

The pivot is part business, foreign policy and philanthropy. One of the best tools the to advance the pivot is the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.