The United States and China perceive the South China Sea issue in starkly different terms.

President Barack Obama’s announcement that he will lift the decades-old embargo on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam raises the question of whether or not it will alter the military balance in the South China Sea. This outcome, Stefan-Gady argues, depends on both the effective training and the ability to successfully integrate new weapons systems within the existing military structures.

Could access to methane hydrates be behind China’s territorial aggressiveness in the South China Sea? Instead of saber-rattling, China to deploy its sophisticated technology backed by the deep pockets of its Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to create ‘partnerships’ with the Philippines and Vietnam to develop these offshore resources

China-U.S. competition and rivalry in the South China Sea is structural, strategic, and irreconcilable. Preventing conflicts there from damaging bilateral ties is a practical imperative for decision-makers in both countries.

China’s reclamation work offshore is not threats to other countries, but will improve the region’s weather forecasting and maritime-rescue capacity. The US and other countries, as well as international organizations, will be welcome to make use of the facilities it will build, so as to advance cooperation on humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

While it runs counter to the notion that China is “aggressive” in the South China Sea, the maritime delimitation agreement with Vietnam is important for both media and international scholars to study for a deeper understanding of China’s practice in dispute resolution.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam. Vietnam and China have tried, with some success, to iron out their differences through high-level talks, but far more needs to be done to avert another dramatic and detrimental maritime incident as the world saw play out with the 2014 drilling rig crisis.

In light of China’s deployment of a mega oilrig in waters that Vietnam considers part of its Exclusive Economic Zone, Carlyle A. Thayer analyses what amounts to an unexpected provocation of Vietnam by China.

As John Ciorciari and Jessica Chen Weiss explain, relations between China and Vietnam have plummeted to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War following a row over disputed territory in the South China Sea.

As tensions in the South China Sea continue to rise, the United States must carefully navigate regional tensions to ensure the current dispute between China and Vietnam does not encourage reckless behavior, but rather promotes peaceful dispute resolution.