n recent years China has pursued territorial claims in the East China and South China Seas, underscoring its reputation as a power seeking to maximise its regional presence. This has led to tensions, the latest of which is with Vietnam over oil drilling rights.

The South China Sea plays a critical role in Asia’s economy. A third of the world’s shipping passes through its waters. Huge reserves of oil and gas may well lie beneath the seabed. As a result, its bordering states – Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam – are fighting over resource rights.

The Paracel Islands, lying about 150 miles northeast of Vietnam, are the latest source of contention. China says that it won the islands in 1974 from US-backed South Vietnam. Hanoi rejects this and claims that according to the UN’s 1982 Law of the Sea treaty, the drilling site is firmly in Vietnam’s “exclusive economic zone”.