April 16, 1994 was a historic day in the history of PetroChina mining.
On the same day, China Geophysical Ocean Exploration Vessel Experiment No. 2 was exploring oil fields in Wan'antan, Nansha Islands. Suddenly, five Vietnamese ships approached Experiment 2 with machine guns . After three days of confrontation, Experiment 2 was forced to evacuate. The withdrawal of
Experiment No. 2 means that China's oil exploration plan in the South China Sea will be forced to end before it begins. At the time of , no one thought that once the plan was shelved, it would be 20 years for .
China-Vietnam confrontation: the beginning and end of the Wan'an Beach incident
In 1984, China's oil exploration plan in the Nansha waters was put on the agenda. In the following ten years, Chinese Academy of Sciences organized a large number of scientists, responsible for the scientific research work before mining, on-site exploration and investigation, Record data, publish work. Oil and gas resources play an important role in the country's future economic development considerations. Therefore, many people pay attention to this scientific expedition.
In 1992, the data on oil and gas reserves in the Nansha sea area were made public, which attracted the attention of Americans. The first company to request cooperation was the American company Criston. Before cooperating with
, it is necessary to find out the details. After a detailed background investigation, Criston confirmed that the sovereignty over the waters of Nansha Islands belongs to China.
So they found relevant Chinese departments and asked for cooperation. Therefore, in the Great Hall of the People, China and the United States signed the only contract China has ever undertaken in the waters of the Nansha Islands: the "Wan'an North-21" contract.
In April 1994, Crystal Company hired the Chinese Experiment No. 2 exploration vessel to go to the sea area delineated by the contract to carry out exploration operations.
At that time, the experimental No. 2 ship had been in service for ten years. This exploration ship was born in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and began to launch in 1984, with the mission of searching for seabed oil resources. In the following ten years, it has lived up to its mission and identified numerous oil and gas storage basins in the South China Sea.
However, just as it was about to retire, something unexpected happened.
On the afternoon of April 14, the South China Sea was calm, the sea and the sky were the same color, and the sky was blue. On the Experiment No. 2 exploration ship, the first round of work is about to end, and the crew members are a little tired and plan to take a break. Unexpectedly, at 15:25, 5 Vietnamese boats opened the water and approached quietly.
They surrounded the Chinese exploration ships and started to circle around the Experiment No. 2. At the same time, they shouted to us, claiming that our exploration ships had invaded the Vietnamese continental shelf and asked us to evacuate immediately.
Later, the explorers called up the logbook of the day of Experiment No. 2. According to the log, the Vietnamese ship circled until 16:5 pm before leaving .
Jiang Shaoren, the on-board commander-in-chief at the time, also recalled that the Vietnamese ships were so close that he could clearly see the faces of the militiamen on board, not to mention the machine guns that were always aimed at us.
At this time, the wind picked up. The otherwise calm sea turned waves and the ship shook. The situation began to get tense, and the crew held their breaths. If the ship was unstable and collided... the consequences can't be imagined.
Jiang Shaoren realized that the stakes were very important, and it was not so easy to solve. He got through the satellite phone and asked the superior for . It happened extremely suddenly, and the command was transferred to Beijing. At the beginning of
, our prospectors received a notice of "persistence", and their superiors told them to relax, and a fleet would come to support them soon. Based on the principle that the enemy does not move and I do not move, the confrontation between the two sides began. However, three days passed and still no support ships were seen.
On April 16, at two in the morning, Jiang Shaoren received the evacuation notice. The Chinese side still chose to put things at ease, put the overall situation first, and first consider the overall peaceful situation in the South China Sea.
The Chinese side's withdrawal made Thomson, the head of the Crystal Company, jumping with anger, but there was nothing he could do. we returned ChrisThe 70,000 US dollars paid in advance by the company, the Sino-US cooperation can only be interrupted.
is just, no one would have expected at the time that this withdrawal would be a full twenty years. In the past two decades, China has never been able to extract a drop of oil from this sea area, and the implementation of the Wananbei-21 contract has been delayed indefinitely, and it has become a piece of paper.
The history of oil exploration in the South China Sea is also the history of illegal oil extraction in Vietnam
Wan An Beach, located in the west of China's Nansha Islands, looks like a crescent moon when viewed from above. Although it is called Wan'an Beach, it is not a shoal above the water surface, but an island reef that is hidden underwater all year round. The water depth is generally between 37 and 111 meters.
However, because of its shallowest point, it is only 17 meters away from the sea surface. Compared with the water depth of 1500 meters to 2000 meters in other areas of the South China Sea, it can be regarded as a "beach", so it is named Wan'an Beach.
Wan'an Beach has an extremely important geographical location.
From an economic point of view, the Wan'an Basin at the bottom of the Wan'an Beach is one of the three major oil and gas enrichment areas in the Nansha sea area, with an estimated oil and gas reserves of more than 5 billion tons. Due to its shallow geographical location, Wan'an Beach has become the most easily exploited area among the three enrichment areas. From the perspective of shipping, Wan'an Beach is an inevitable place for shipping in the South China Sea and the first gateway to the Indian Ocean. As many as 40,000 cargo ships pass through this gateway every year.
From a strategic point of view, Wan'an Beach is the fulcrum of defense against Southeast Asian countries. It faces to the southwest with the Straits of Malacca , to the northwest it can reach Ho Minh Chi City in Vietnam, and to the southeast it echoes the coastline of Sarawak, Malaysia. From the perspective of my country's territorial sovereignty, Wan'an Beach is the only island and reef west of the nine-dash line, and it is an important support point of the nine-dash line. As soon as
found out, this oil field close to the shelf has become a battleground for military strategists, attracting the attention of countries in the region.
Therefore, as soon as the Wan'antan Oilfield was discovered, it became a battleground for military strategists. Vietnam, my country's southern neighbor, has coveted this feng shui treasure for a long time. This can be seen from the Wanantan incident above. .
In fact, the territorial dispute between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea can be traced back to 1974. At that time, Vietnam was not yet unified, and it was South Vietnam who launched the invasion at that time. They first invaded the Yongle Islands in the South my country Sea. Under the fierce counterattack of the self-organized military and civilian organizations, they were repelled and fled back to Vietnam in embarrassment. However, South Vietnam still did not give up, and in July of the same year, the army was called up again for a counter-offensive.
South Vietnam has the backing of the United States, more advanced weapons and equipment, and favorable geographical factors. This time, they captured seven islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands in one fell swoop.
Considering that Vietnam is not yet unified, my country has not organized a counterattack again. However, it is unbelievable that in 1975, after the reunification of North and South Vietnam, the Vietnamese side had no plans to return the territory of our country at all. And gradually began to implement the strategic policy of "occupying the island and expanding the sea", and at the same time claimed: Wanan Beach is Vietnam's territory, and it is not at all within the scope of the dispute over territorial sovereignty between China and Vietnam .
At that time, the domestic situation was not yet stable. For a variety of reasons, my country implemented the policy of keeping a low profile in diplomacy, and at that time there was no time to take into account Vietnam. The Vietnamese side stared at this empty space and began to devour oil fields in the South my country Sea.
What is even more extreme is that in 1977, the Vietnamese side extended its continental shelf by more than 200 nautical miles, extending its tentacles into Chinese waters. After
, Vietnam began to build oil fields in the South my country Sea. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union , Vietnam lost its strong back-up support, and the technical level did not meet the conditions for deep-sea exploitation of oil fields. What about
? The resources in the sea area are not owned by them, but the money must be earned into their own pockets. In this case, Vietnam aims to sell resources and invite foreign capital.
Vietnam has successively cooperated with British Gas, Dutch ShellOil companies have cooperated and successively exploited Baihu Oilfield, Qinglong Oilfield and so on near the South China Sea. Among them, Qinglong Oilfield was even directly granted to Japan for mining on behalf of it.
What is even more extreme is that Vietnam has deployed its own military force in Wan An Tan.
At the end of the 1980s, the Vietnamese side built two platforms with a height of 30 meters on Wan'an Beach. Five years later, stilt house was built and troops were stationed on it.
Vietnam, an oil-poor country, quickly became one of the oil exporters by virtue of the oil resources in the South China Sea.
confronted again after a lapse of 25 years, Vietnam's arrogance is no longer
What really smashed the Vietnamese attempt to occupy the South China Sea was the island-filling model that my country started in the Nansha waters.
Since 2013, my country has successively built seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, namely Yongshu, Zhubi and Meiji. Seven islands fill the supply line in the South China Sea, providing sufficient supply guarantee for the surrounding archipelagos and sea areas.
At the same time, each island is equipped with ports and airports, which greatly strengthens our country's strength to defend the sovereignty of the South my country Sea.
After the Wan'an Beach incident in 1994, Vietnam provoked several frictional incidents in the same waters in an attempt to take Wan'an Beach as its own.
For example, in 2007, the "July 9 Friction Incident" in which Vietnamese fishing boats were driven away by the Chinese Navy, and in 2011, the "June 9 Friction Incident" in which Vietnam towed our fishing boats in normal operation.
With the continuous enhancement of China's national strength, my country's naval power is also growing, so naturally it is impossible to sit idly by such provocations. Near the waters of Wan'an Beach, more and more warships were dispatched to .
In 2017, 23 years after the Van An Beach incident, Vietnam sent exploration vessels into the Van An Basin to explore for oil. They should remember what happened back then. In order to prevent themselves from being driven out, Vietnam also sent armed ships to protect them.
is just that China is no longer the China it used to be. As soon as the Vietnamese ships appeared, we immediately dispatched a large number of official ships to carry out law enforcement, and at the same time dispatched reconnaissance planes to put pressure on them. This time,
had a bad breath, and was forced to evacuate under the argument of the law enforcement ship.
The Vietnamese side always needs oil output to develop its economy. Perhaps the country's oil resources have been exhausted and there is no way out. In 2019, Vietnam will attack again. There was an incident of three visits to Wan'an Beach here. After 25 years, China and Vietnam faced each other again.
In June 2019, Vietnam signed a contract with , the Russian oil company , to jointly exploit the oil in Wangantan and dispatch exploration ships to operate in the corresponding waters. At the same time, my country's Haiyang Dizhi No. 8 exploration ship is also carrying out exploration operations in the same sea area. At the beginning of
, several Vietnamese ships were eager to try, and came to interfere during the operation of Haiyang Dizhi 8. This is about to face the front, and our coast guard ship will immediately meet it. After several contests, the Vietnamese side had no choice but to retreat in order to avoid the capsizing of their own ship, and returned to the place obediently.
but they still don't give up. Relying on the support of Russian companies, they rely on the sea, trying to consume us as they did in the past.
Until August, our fleet came every day and operated normally. But after two months of battery life, the Chinese fleet really needs to be replenished.
On August 7, Haiyang Dizhi No. 8 returned to Yongshu Island for resupply. The Vietnamese were very pleasantly surprised, thinking that they had the upper hand in the confrontation again, so they also went back home to supply supplies.
However, to their surprise, 5 days after , the Chinese fleet is back with .
The Vietnamese originally wanted to stick to their empty-burning strategy to see who retreated first. But soon, they found that it was impossible.
On September 3, Haiyang Dizhi No. 8 returned to the Wan'an Basin for the third time after the Yongshu Base was replenished again.
Vietnam understands that the situation has long since reversed. If you want to face the front, your own ships are too small to resist, and the danger of overturning on the contrary; if you want to run out of supplies, China has its own supply line. boringThat's it.
From this incident, we can see how important the 7 islands in the South China Sea are. If there is no guaranteed supply from Yongshu Island, if the exploration ship returns to Hainan to supply supplies, it will take half a month to come and go, and then Daylily all cold.
It can be said that after a lapse of 25 years, the Chinese side has the upper hand in the confrontation between China and Vietnam in Wan'an Beach again.
my country has developed a more powerful military force, formed a unique maritime supply chain, and successfully maintained its territorial sovereignty. Vietnam's disgraceful retreat has also made our military and civilians let out a bad breath. It can be seen from
that due to the huge disparity in military strength, Vietnam has given up on confrontation with China on the issue of the South China Sea.
However, the Vietnamese side's intention to bite the fat in the South China Sea remains unchanged, and they have turned to political and diplomatic means to continue to fight for .
In the two Wanantan incidents, Vietnam was using political and diplomatic means to put pressure on China while it invaded by force.
In terms of specific actions, the Vietnamese side has repeatedly used fishing boats to "swear sovereignty"; in terms of public opinion oppression, domestically, Vietnam has carried out education and propaganda on the people's "ocean and island sovereignty"; internationally, Vietnam has raised the dispute between the two countries to The height of security in the ASEAN region guides the direction of public opinion.
However, the South China Sea has been Chinese territory since ancient times.
China's rights in the South China Sea are the result of thousands of years of development and operation on the islands. All these historical evidences prove that China is the only owner of the South China Sea Islands.
China has always handled territorial disputes with a rational and restrained attitude and maintained peace and stability in the South China Sea. However, if any country wants to occupy my country's inherent territory in any form, the Chinese people will certainly not agree, and it will eventually be a slap in the face.
