China has deployed four new oil rigs in the waters of the South China Sea amid an ongoing dispute with Vietnam over drilling activities that sparked the most serious tensions between the two countries in many years.
While the oil rig off the contested Paracel Islands that triggered the recent row has since been moved, authorities said on Friday four new rigs had been deployed in the South China Sea, whose waters and islands are contested by China, Vietnam, the Philippines and half a dozen other countries.
At least three of the rigs appear to be in waters that are not contested, off the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Hainan island, according to present coordinates listed by the Maritime Safety Administration.
It is unclear whether the rigs may be subsequently moved. One rig is in waters between the Chinese mainland and the Pratas Islands, which are under the control of Taiwan but claimed by China.
Chinese officials played down the deployment.
“There is no need to make a fuss about normal activities,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters.
The move will, however, be followed closely in Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries holding claims on the South China Sea’s waters and islands.
This week, China’s top diplomat, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, travelled to Hanoi in a bid to defuse tensions inflamed by the deployment of the oil rig off the Paracel Islands.
While China claims the islands, Vietnam was angered by the move as the rig, officials said, was located within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
