What Vietnam’s Joint Maritime Exercises Reveal About Its Foreign Policy

(TOP) A Vietnam Coast Guard vessel taking part in joint exercises with the Philippines Coast Guard and (BOTTOM) a Vietnamese missile frigate arriving at the port of Zhanjiang in China's southern Guangdong province on the same weekend. Images via AFP (TOP) and Xinhua (BOTTOM).

The Philippines and Vietnam conducted their first-ever joint Coast Guard exercises off Manila on Friday in what was widely-seen as a move by both governments to rally against Chinese territorial claims to large swathes of the South China Sea.

International news coverage of the drills was framed solely within the context of both Hanoi and Manila’s rivalry with Beijing over the South China Sea. While that may be the case, those news reports also missed a critical piece of information.

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by Eric Olander

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