China Faces New Sea Dispute With Another Neighbor

Vietnam has called on China to abide by maritime law after Beijing declared earlier this month that it was expanding its territorial claims with a new baseline in the South China Sea’s Gulf of Tonkin. The Chinese foreign ministry’s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs said the move was consistent with Chinese and international law and necessary for “the exercise of national sovereignty and jurisdiction.” China’s expansive claims over most of the South China Sea overlap with those of Vietnam and several other coastal states. China is already locked in a years-long and escalating dispute with the Philippines over features…