China and Vietnam: Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea

In this edition of M&M, I want to discuss how China handled its territorial disputes with Vietnam. This is an important topic considering China and Vietnam currently have disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, and that they once fought a war over the disputed land border in 1979. China also used force to occupy the Vietnam-controlled Johnson South Reef in 1988. Understanding how China handles territorial disputes is important to assess the possibility of a renewed conflict over the South China Sea with not just Vietnam but also the Philippines.