VietNamNet Bridge – The so-called “Silk Road Initiative” in the East Sea is part of China’s three-direction tactic, analyzed by Dr. Nguyen Hong Thao, a senior expert on the East Sea issues.

In May 2013, during his official visit to Malaysia and Indonesia, Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced the initiative to restore the so-called "Silk Road on the Sea".

The initiative is aimed at three goals: 1) to support the production network across the region, to boost trade and improve the role of China as an investment opportunity, a capital source in the eyes of ASEAN, 2) to expand and link seaport systems, 3) to strengthen the role of overseas Chinese communities and 4) to enhance reliability in order to help ease tension in the region related to territorial disputes and sensitive historical issues.

In July 2014, according to Chinese sources, Hainan province tried to register the "Maritime Silk Road" with UNESCO, and planned to excavate the wrecks at "archaeological sites" around the islands of Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel Islands) in the next two years.

China also said that since 1990, they had been implementing this project and identified 136 archaeological sites in the East Sea (South China Sea).

According to Xinhua, at least nine cities have participated in the initiative compared to one when Guangzhou initiated the idea in 2002.

The restoration of the Silk Road on the sea should also be seen as part of the overall strategy to head to the East Sea to expand Chinese influence.

Shortly after the end of negotiations with Vietnam on the demarcation in the Gulf of Tonkin in 2000, China called for the establishment of the Gulf of Tonkin economic belt as part of the economic cooperation program named "two corridors, one belt".

The scope of this belt consists of three cities of Guangxi Province - Beihai, Qinzhou, and Fangchenggang, a city of Guangdong province – Zhanjiang, Hainan province, and 10 provinces of Vietnam - Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri. The cooperation includes trade, investment, exploitation of marine economics, tourism and protection of the marine environment.

in July 2006, in the Gulf of Tonkin Economic Cooperation Forum held in Nanning, Guangxi Party Committee Secretary Liu Qi recommended the initiative on “economic cooperation in the expanded Gulf of Tonkin”. The idea is to set up maritime cooperation between China and ASEAN.

According to Chinese experts, this proposal would help expand economic and market development space in the region, promoting strength and the overall competitiveness of the region.

Cooperation will create conditions for stability in the East Sea - an important transport route for many countries and make the relations between China and ASEAN more cohesive, in the spirit of "advantageous  sharing, mutual benefit, mutual development" on both continents and the sea.

Economic cooperation in the expanded Gulf of Tonkin include China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei.

In January 2014, the Senior Officials Meeting on Cooperation in the Expanded Gulf of Tonkin discussed and reviewed the "Strategic Framework for Economic Cooperation Roadmap in  the Expanded Gulf of Tonkin".

The former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National Assembly said: "Deepening  and upgrading cooperation in  the expanded Gulf of Tonkin is a pressing demand for the upgrade of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, as well as the sense of working together to build the Silk Road on the sea in the 21st century".

The idea of establishment of the Silk Road on the sea does not just stop at registering for a world heritage title but aims to create a new economic growth belt in the western Pacific coast to cope with the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) (not including China) and the Asian axis rotation strategy of America; contribute to increase the strength of China; and enhance China's influence in the region.

The idea also targets to strengthen the presence of China in the East Sea and its unjustified cow-tongue claims. This initiative comes amid a series of recent events in the East Sea, making many countries in the region skeptical.

They are wary of China's actions, such as this country’s claims to consider the East Sea and the cow tongue line as its core interest in March 2010, the establishment of Sansha city on 24/07/2012 with the boundary covering the islands and the reefs in the East Sea, including Hoang Sa, Truong Sa (Spratly Islands), and Scarborough, cutting the cables of Vietnam’s Binh Minh and Vi King surveillance ships in 2011 and 2012, occupying Scarborough in 4/2012, opening tenders for the nine oil blocks in the continental shelf of Central Vietnam in 6/2012, printing the U-shaped line in the electronic passport in 12/2012, the laws and regulations prohibit fishing and controlling foreign vessels of the Hainan Province authorities, setting up the patrol mode and normal combat readiness in the waters managed (East Sea) by the People's Liberation Army of China, making the statement on the establishment of the storm warning, illegally deploying the oil rig HD 981 deep into the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam in 5/2014, and publishing the vertical map in 6/2014.

The Silk Road Initiative in the East Sea is part of the three direction tactic of China: 1) Codifying the U-shaped line in national documents and registering it at international forums and organizations; 2) implementing harassment activities, exploring along the U-shaped line to impose ownership and management of the entire East Sea; and 3) performing propaganda and strongly reacting against the criticism of the world community and patiently challenging the endurance of the international community.

UNESCO and protection of underwater cultural heritage

The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972, the preamble, specifies that UNESCO’s principles and objectives are to make international recommendations and decisions for cultural and natural property, prove importance for all peoples around the world of the preservation of unique properties, even though they belong to a specific nation.

According to Article 1 of the Convention, the Cultural and Natural Heritage is defined as follows:

Monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;

Groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;

Sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view.

However, the Convention also stipulates in Article 11, clause 3: The inclusion of a property in the World Heritage List requires the consent of the State concerned. The inclusion of a property situated in a territory, sovereignty or jurisdiction over which is claimed by more than one State shall in no way prejudice the rights of the parties to the dispute.

To be continued…

Nguyen Hong Thao