Vietnam Vietnamese Nationalism Impact On The Sea Disputes

That China has sovereignty over the South China Sea islands is an indisputable historical fact, but Sino-Vietnamese South China Sea dispute is triggered by Vietnam’s "sovereignty" requirements on Xisha and Nansha Islands. While researching Sino-Vietnamese South China Sea dispute, the Nationalism Thought long-standing in Vietnam should not be neglected. This article intends to use the theories of nationalism to analyze it.Historical link between Vietnam and China is extremely deep, and Vietnamese nationalism thought is also deeply influenced by Chinese Confucianism, though some characteristics of its own have grown up, such as having complicated attitude to China, and having prevent mental and expansionist desires to the oversea world. Nowadays, Vietnamese nationalism continues to make trouble on Sino-Vietnamese relations and Sino-Vietnamese South China Sea dispute. In school education, the Vietnamese authorities exaggerate the unpleasantness of Sino-Vietnamese relations history, and imbue the students with the wrong South China Sea territorial cognition. The Vietnamese media shows that Vietnam has "sovereignty" over Xisha and Nansha Islands by various means. The Vietnamese Army instigates the nationalist sentiment of the people at home through propaganda caliber. Some groups and individuals in Vietnam also go to the Nansha islands occupied by Vietnam under the acquiescence of the Vietnamese government. Meanwhile, Overseas Vietnamese also echo the nationalists home, further internationalizing the Sino-Vietnamese South China Sea dispute.Despite the negative effects of nationalism, the Vietnamese government is still able to focus on the overall situation of Sino-Vietnamese relations, and is not just to accommodate the nationalist forces. The Vietnamese government is thus because of the strong anti-Communist ideology of overseas Vietnamese, China and Vietnams’ national power disparity and the ties on ideology between the two countries. Thus, China and Vietnam resolve the South China Sea disputes through peaceful means is still promising. In the future, the two countries should be committed to the construction of the security mechanisms of the surrounding areas in the South China Sea, thus can leave room for further negotiations and dialogues.