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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 5. March 26 1979

Past Border Problems

Past Border Problems

Ever since the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam until 1975) in 1954 there have been disputes over the Sino-Vietnamese border. Small territorial conflicts, although rarely military, have plagued relations between the two countries. Although most of the disputed territory has been relatively insignificant and small in size, this in itself demonstrates the deep divisions in the countries respective attitudes to the border problems.

The main trouble spots have been areas adjacent to the Gulf of Tonkin, two sets of islands (the Paracels and the Spratly's) and some very small areas inland on the border. In 1954 and again in 1958, the Vietnamese accepted Chinese sovereignity over both the Paracels and the Spratly's. The Vietnamese leader responsible for those agreements was Pham Van Dong, then Prime Minister. However, in 1975, the Vietnamese suddenly changed their position, claiming the islands for themselves, probably because of their strategic importance and also the possibility of oil in the South China Sea.

Part of the border problem can undoubtedly be put down to the legacy of colonialism in S.E. Asia. Like Africa, S.E. Asia suffered from almost arbitrary divisions between rival colonial powers which took no account of geo-political history. But as in the case of the two sets of islands and small pieces of territory further inland, it has been the attitude of the Vietnamese leadership, in some cases going back to 1954, that has brought these hostilities out into the open.