The US has waded into the escalating tension between Vietnam and China as the latter seeks to exert its dominance in the South China Sea – a disputed area that Washington claims hosts an estimated $2.5 trillion-worth of unexploited hydrocarbons.
China earlier this month redeployed a seismic vessel supported by military back-up near to where Russian state oil company Rosneft and its partners are drilling on Block 6-1 in the Vanguard Bank, which Vietnam asserts is located within its Exclusive Economic Zone.
