South China Sea dispute settlement unlikely

摘要

Hanoi—China claims sovereignty over roughly80% of the South China Sea. Vietnam is occu-pying more than 20 of the Spratly Islands andis viewed by its northern neighbor as one ofits most determined rivals for the disputedwaters and the oil and gas resources they arebelieved to hold.Naturally, relations between the tworemain uneasy.In their latest effort to realize an “historic”agreement on principles to settle maritimeterritorial disputes, Hanoi and Beijing March 2activated a hotline between their foreign min-istries to handle flare-ups over the issue.