Tensions in South China Sea
AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program. Does China rule the seas? That is the South China Sea. Many countries are asking whether anything can stop China as the Asian giant flexes its muscle in territorial disputes with its smaller neighbors, from Japan to the Philippines to Vietnam. The latest incident is with Vietnam over a Chinese oil rig that's based near the disputed Paracel Islands. This week a Chinese boat rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near the oil rig. And in Vietnam, violent riots against the Chinese have forced Beijing to evacuate thousands of its workers. So is Asia on a short fuse to war? Joining me now from Washington is Vietnam's ambassador to the United States, Nguyen Quoc Cuong. Mr. Ambassador, welcome to the program. And thank you for joining me.</s>NGUYEN QUOC CUONG, VIETNAMESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Thank you for inviting me to the program.</s>AMANPOUR: Can I ask you first, recently you all said China and Vietnam, that your relations were onto a much better foot, that things were going much better between you. What has happened? And can it be rebuilt, this relationship?</s>CUONG: Yes, Vietnam-China relations in the last year have been improved but all of a sudden, China has sent its high rank (ph) and a last contingent of missiles to escort our week (ph) into Vietnam's for us. And it's a serious violation of Vietnam sovereignty and sovereign rights. And the Vietnamese people, we have no other way but to respond peacefully but resolutely.</s>AMANPOUR: But do you think, even if you respond peacefully and resolutely, do you worry that this could trigger an armed conflict?</s>CUONG: Yes. You see that by first talk about the Chinese action, the unilateral action of China, by sending its oil rig and missiles into Vietnamese waters is a violation not only of Vietnamese sovereignty and sovereign rights, it's also a violation of international law, especially the unclose (ph) of 1982 and a violation of the commitments that the Chinese leaders made -- themselves made with the ASEAN (ph) leaders when they signed together with ASEAN (ph) leaders in 2002 the declaration on the conduct of the parties in the South China Sea which is called the South and the East Sea.</s>AMANPOUR: All right.</s>CUONG: So -- yes.</s>AMANPOUR: OK, well, let me just play you something, because I spoke to China's ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Cui Tiankai. I spoke to him last week about this whole issue and he said this about the oil rig and the islands that you came -- that disputed territory there.</s>CUI TIANKAI, CHINA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: We don't want to see any conflicts in our neighborhood. But it will not entirely -- it will not be entirely up to us, you see. Other people have to have the same constructive attitude and policy.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, so that was the -- that was the ambassador. But he also went on to tell me that China only has one rig here; he called them undisputed waters and he said Vietnam has 30. How do you respond to that?</s>CUONG: Can you repeat it? I can't hear you.</s>AMANPOUR: Basically he says they don't want a conflict with Vietnam but that China only has one rig, that these are undisputed waters, their international waters. And he says you actually, Vietnam, has 30 oil rigs.</s>CUONG: Yes. You see that now China is creating facts on the ground by changing the status quo. It's in the Continental Shelf, exclusive zone of Vietnam, not in the disputed area. So China, by doing so, is China is trying to turn an undisputed area into a disputed area. And that is unacceptable. And talking about Vietnam's oil and gas exploration, exploitation activities, we've been doing it for decades. But it's in the Continental Shelf in the exclusive economic zone of Vietnam, not in the disputed waters. So -- and foreign companies, so many foreign companies cooperating, doing business with Vietnam in the oil and gas exploration, do they -- do we believe that they do it, if they think it's in the disputed area? I don't think so.</s>AMANPOUR: All right, Mr. --</s>CUONG: And in 2,000-year</s>AMANPOUR: I see. Well, let me ask you this, then, react to what the Chinese foreign minister said back in 2010. He was speaking to his counterpart in Singapore. He said that "China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that's just a fact." That is China's then-foreign minister. How do you react to that? And isn't that just a fact? They're so big and you're so relatively small.</s>CUONG: Yes, it's unjustifiable, no argument. You know, in foreign relations, every country, no matter because more are equal on the equal footing. It's international law, now on equal footing. And you cannot say small countries bullying bigger countries or vice versa. Every country is equal on the international relations.</s>AMANPOUR: But you're seeing the way China is making these claims in, for instance, the disputed islands with Japan and also with various territorial issues with the Philippines. Now your issue has caused a lot of protest in your country and there have been violent protests against Chinese workers. But I want to ask you, as you deal with those protests and now those people have been evacuated, how do you expect to get protection from China because America, while you've got relations, you're not under America's security or treaty umbrella in this regard.</s>CUONG: Yes, you see that now Vietnam is following an independent foreign policy. You want good relations with China; you want good relations with United States and other countries. And you know, but we cannot accept the coercion; we cannot accept threats. And when the issue of sovereignty and national integrity is concerned, the Vietnamese people are very determined to defend our sovereignty rights. And no country should underestimate the Vietnamese people's determination to defend our sovereignty and sovereignty rights. For Vietnamese, 100 percent Vietnamese, no matter where they live, in Vietnam, in United States or in other countries, we all believe that for Vietnamese, nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.</s>AMANPOUR: Well, we'll continue to watch, Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong, thank you very much indeed for joining me from Washington.</s>CUONG: Thank you.</s>AMANPOUR: And while American foreign policy focuses on hot spots from Ukraine to the South China Sea, the specter of a new genocidal disaster reawakening memories of Rwanda in 1994 is taking place in one of those marginalized nations that President Obama mentioned in his West Point speech, and that is the Central African Republic. After 18 months of sectarian violence, more than a million people have been displaced and some 60,000 have sought shelter at the international airport in Bangui, the nation's capital, turning abandoned planes and hangars into makeshift housing. These dramatic photos by Peter Birro of the International Rescue Committee show that. And malnutrition is soaring with the threat of famine on the horizon. An estimated 2.5 million people, more than half the population, are in urgent need of humanitarian aid in what is one of the world's poorest countries. And after a break, we'll remember a poet laureate of the poor and the underprivileged in Africa, in American and around the world. Our tribute to Maya Angelou when we come back.