#Hanoi

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte latest rants have caused international concern, resulting in capital flight and drops in the stockmarket and currency.

In the face of China’s continued assertiveness, other nations are partnering up to increase defense cooperation, including Vietnam and India.

A recent report appears to suggest that Vietnam has placed rocket launchers on five bases in the Spratly Islands, pointing them toward Chinese facilities.

Now that an arbitral court in The Hague has ruled in favor of Manila over Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea, will Hanoi be next?

In recent weeks, incidents of bad behavior by Chinese tourists in Vietnam have widely circulated on social media and been reported by Vietnamese news media.

With tons of dead fish continuing to wash ashore, hundreds of Vietnamese gathered for peaceful protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in April and May.

Despite previous aggressive actions by Chinese vessels, Malaysia has ignored them, not wishing to disturb its trade and investment relationships with China.

Despite concerns human rights violations in Vietnam, Obama opted to fully lift the arms embargo on lethal military equipment during his recent visit.

The UNCHR stated that it is “concerned about the increasing levels of violence perpetrated against Vietnamese protesters expressing their anger over the mysterious mass deaths of fish along the country’s central coast.”

The incident last week was not a one-off: there have been dozens of attacks by Chinese vessels on Vietnamese fishing boats in the Paracel Island chain since last year.

In contrast to the more vocal governments in Manila and Hanoi, not much is heard these days concerning Brunei’s claims in the South China Sea.

Beijing is back to salami-slicing again, as it moved an offshore oil drilling rig on January 16 near the entrance to the Gulf of Tonkin, about 21 nautical miles east of the median line between Vietnam and China.