Vietnam has urged ]statement, in Vietnamese] the international tribunal in The Hague to deliver a “fair and objective” ruling concerning Philippines’ challenge to China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. Two days after the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) [official website] announced [press release, PDF] July 12 as the verdict date, Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry [official website, in Vietnamese] said that it hoped the ruling would lead to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Although Vietnam is not a direct party to the case, any favorable ruling to the Philippines will benefit the country, since Vietnam is also at odds with China. Vietnam has been careful not to assert its interests in a direct or confrontational manner against China, which is a major trade partner to the country. As such, Vietnam’s statement stopped short [Reuters report] of calling for the ruling to be respected, contrary to the statements given by numerous other countries.

Despite Vietnam’s cautious approach in this matter, its relations with China have not been particularly cozy. On Monday, Vietnam expressed its outrage [press release] at China’s plan to carry out military drills from July 5-11 in an area that covers Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago in the East Sea, and demanded that China respect Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty. China claims nearly the entire 3.5 million square-kilometer [JURIST report] South China Sea, a region believed to be rich in oil and minerals. China has come into territorial conflict over the region in the past not only with the Philippines [JURIST op-ed], but also with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The Philippines and China were involved in a two month stand-off [Al Jazeera report] that started last April around the Scarborough Shoal, a small cluster of uninhabitable islands 220 km off the coast of the Philippines which, according to international maritime law, fall into the Philippines’ economic zone. The standoff was triggered when Chinese vessels blocked the Philippine navy from arresting Chinese fishermen for alleged illegal fishing activities within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones. The PCA in The Hague ruled in October that it has jurisdiction to hear the dispute [JURIST report] between the Philippines and China over parts of the South China Sea. For its part, China has refused to recognize PCA’s jurisdiction on the case, even going as far as calling it a “law-abusing tribunal.” However, the case seeks an interpretation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) [materials], to which China is a signatory.