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4. Build up self-reliance
This option proposes Vietnam to build up its internal economic and military
capabilities to deter China's aggression by continuing reforming its economy and
modernizing its military forces.
Given that China used to use force to seize the Paracel and a part of the Spratly
in the past as well as it has been developing its military strengths and being more
assertive to claim its ownership over the islands, there could be a chance that
China would use force again and/or use its overwhelming economic power to put
pressure on Vietnam and other countries to give up on the issue.
Being aware of China's threat, Vietnamese government has been developing its
internal strengths, both economic and military inclusive, especially military
capability. Compared to 2003, Vietnam's military spending has been increased by
83% in 2012 [28] , in which mostly is invested in developing naval and air forces;
a large amount of budget has been spent on weapons purchase. Vietnam is
currently one of the top importers of Russia's weapons [29] . It is also persuading
the U.S to lift the ban on lethal weapons so that it could purchase more U.S
weapons and modernize military. [30] Pessimists believe that despite economic
and military strengthening efforts, Vietnam can never outweigh China in economy
and military power but still under China's influence. Economically, China is the
largest economic partner of Vietnam with expected two-way trade of $60 billion in
2015; Chinese products currently account 60% imports of Vietnam [31] . Militarily,
Vietnam's 2012 military budget is $3.3 billion while China's is $106.4 billion [32] .
However, these economic and military strengthening efforts still deserve a try
because if conflict is the case, it will impose certain costs on China and so deter
China's aggressive actions.
III. CONCLUSION
The South China Sea dispute between Vietnam and China has become more
and more sensitive and complicated because both countries are so strong in their
own positions in the dispute that no one is willing to compromise their rights over
the Paracel and Spratly islands - a convergence of geo-politics and geo-
economics. Vietnam has more credible historical and legal data to prove its
sovereignty rights over the islands but the strategic significance of China to
Vietnam and China's assertiveness put Vietnam in a policy dilemma between
developing the strategic bilateral relationship and struggling to win over China in
the dispute. To reduce tensions, Vietnam should have a comprehensive
approach, that is, boosting bilateral ties while seeking ways to balance against
China at the same time, internally or externally. In this connection, this paper
recommends Vietnam to simultaneously (i) deepen its multifaceted relationship
with China through Party-to-Party, Government-to-Government and People-to-
People channels; (ii) continue to take advantage of ASEAN as a primary platform
to counter China's claims; (iii) develop ties with major powers while not forget to
build up self-reliance; and (iv) make public all evidence to prove Vietnam's
sovereignty rights to the Paracel and Spratly island in order to gain support from
international community and put pressure on China to clarify its claims and deter
its aggressive actions. However, it should be acknowledged that since the core of
the South China Sea dispute is the territorial sovereignty that involved claimants
will never want to compromise, it might too sensitive and complex for a feasible
solution to thoroughly settle the dispute in a foreseeable future.