Vietnamese Coast Guard 8003, South China
Sea (CNN) -- It takes a long time to get to the
middle of nowhere. For a contingent of almost
40 reporters, hours of waiting both on land
and then at sea preceded a trip to one of the
world's most hotly contested areas of
maritime real estate.
The Vietnamese government had been at pains
to keep this media trip under wraps, keeping
print, online and broadcast journalists from
Asia and the United States guessing as to the
day and time of departure.
That secrecy may have been for naught: at a
pre-departure briefing we are told that while
the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
not formally informed its Chinese counterpart
of the presence of journalists in the area, a
Coast Guard official mentions that "chances
are" China knows about it.
But depart we do, boarding a small
coastguard support vessel Monday evening as
the sun dies over Da Nang, bound for the
disputed waters surrounding the South China
Sea's Paracel Islands, known to China as the
Xisha Islands.
China's controversial installation of an oil-rig
in these waters at the beginning of May
sparked protests -- some of which turned
violent -- in Vietnam and statements from a
variety of world leaders, urging the two sides
to resolve this dispute quickly and without
bloodshed.
READ: Chinese ships reach Vietnam to
evacuate citizens
One side, at least, appears to be in agreement.
"The Vietnamese Coast Guard are committed
to resolving the situation peacefully," says
Hoang Tuan Anh, the captain of the supply
ship upon which we hitch a ride.
Strictly utilitarian, our sturdy ride
boasts one 125mm cannon on its
prow and two 14.5mm guns aft. It
is the kind of supply ship that every
coast guard needs, and also houses
a huge number of plastic 10-gallon
jugs of drinking water, a galley
piled with vegetables, and a bevy of
live chickens under one of the
exterior staircases — supplies badly
needed by their crew mates and
friends on the front line.
As the sun rises again the next
morning, we're still chugging
steadily toward our destination,
claimed by both China and Vietnam.
Clear message
A mid-sea ship change to CG 8003 -- and
slightly less cramped conditions -- awaits us
as noon approaches. By then we have reached
the area where China had, earlier in the
month, unilaterally planted a flag on this area
of supposedly oil rich sea. The flag, in this
case, was an imposing oil-rig that sent a
clear message: the Xisha Islands are ours to
do with what we will.
READ: How an oil rig sparked anti-China riots
in Vietnam
No buoys mark the territory, and there is no
landfall in sight: just a shimmering expanse of
deep water, albeit one with the promise of
fossil fuel riches beneath.
As we arrive news comes that the rig -- run
by state-owned oil company the China
National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC)
-- has been moved: no small task for
something as big and unwieldy -- yet
politically volatile.
The operation to move the structure began on
Monday morning and was completed by 10.30
p.m. local time, just hours after our voyage
began but, equally, hours before we arrived in
the zone.
Approaching the area, dots on the
horizon become ships, which then
become a flotilla -- or perhaps
more accurately two separate
flotilla -- of both Chinese and
Vietnamese commercial and coast
guard vessels.
This mishmash of fishing and
military vessels is all that remains
of the flashpoint of a couple of
weeks ago, and in a seemingly
stage-crafted set of maneuvers
dance around this expanse of utterly blue,
clear sea.
Aggressive foghorns
It's a lively affair, alternating between angry,
static rhetoric that informs the Chinese that
they are in violation of international law, and
aggressive foghorns and sirens, raising a
cacophony on this otherwise peaceful, sunny
afternoon.
"I've traveled out to these waters many times
but recently the Chinese have been more
aggressive towards the Vietnamese," says
Hoang, captain of the support vessel. "I'm
proud to protect Vietnam."
The dance is supervised by the respective
country's coast guard vessels, who hopefully
have too much sense to engage directly with
each other. But hanging over the day's events
is the knowledge that just hours before, a
Chinese fishing vessel had rammed and sunk
one of its Vietnamese counterparts.
READ: Vietnamese boat sinks after collision
with Chinese vessel
No lives were lost in this incident but it is the
first time that a boat has been sunk in this
chapter of the often-acrimonious relationship
between these two ideologically similar
neighbors.
As the afternoon begins to wrap up, one of the
larger Chinese coast-guard vessel homes in
on our ship, horn blasting incoherently as it
attempts a little maritime brinksmanship.
Nobody on board CG 8003 seems to be overly
worried, although life jackets are donned as a
fillip. Like a dog reaching the end of its chain,
the Chinese vessel barks at us a few
remaining times, before turning heel.
Off the starboard bow, two other Chinese
vessels harry a smaller Vietnamese fishing
boat, pushing it further from the center of this
disagreement which, if left untended, could
have dramatic consequences for these two
countries, key players in a region that is --
perhaps belatedly --starting to buck under the
weight of Chinese hegemony.
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