ABSTRACT
Since the mid-2000s, the South China Sea became a hostile ground for the Vietnamese. There had been more reporting about the Chinese coast guard’s aggressive actions against Vietnamese fi shing vessels. Due to discreet threats from Beijing, international oil fi rms ceased to cooperate with Vietnam to explore hydrocarbon in the area off the Vietnamese coast. As other Southeast Asian countries increasingly believed in China’s “peaceful rise” rhetoric, the South China Sea became less relevant on the ASEAN agenda. While China effectively overwhelmed Vietnam at sea and in regional forums, its assertive behaviour unintentionally released the nationalist genie in Vietnam out of the bottle. Increased anti-Chinese sentiment at home added more complexity to Vietnam’s management of the territorial disputes with China. Though being aware of the risk of domestic stability and escalated inter-state tensions associated with the use of the nationalist card, the Vietnamese political elites were increasingly willing to accept some degree of nationalist manoeuvre to signal its resolve and draw international attention.
