Hai Yang Shi You 981 standoff

Hai Yang Shi You 981 standoff
Part of South China Sea disputes
P1 P2 class=notpageimage| Rig location of Hai Yang Shi You 981 (position 1 [P1]: date set May 2; position 2 [P2]: date set May 27)
Date May 1, 2014 – July 16, 2014 Location Waters near South China Sea, southern region Paracel Islands 15°29′58″N 111°12′01″E / 15.49944°N 111.20028°E / 15.49944; 111.20028 Result China withdrew the oil rig
Belligerents
China	Vietnam
Units involved
People's Liberation Army Navy China National Offshore Oil Corporation China Maritime Safety Administration China Coast Guard China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command Civilian and fishing boats	Vietnam People's Navy (indirect engagement) Vietnam Coast Guard Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Civilian and fishing boats
Strength
1 drilling platform, 6 warships, 40 coast guard vessels, over 30 transport ships and tugboats, 34–40 ironclad fishing boats, Su-27[citation needed] and Shaanxi Y-8 patrol planes[1]	60 vessels: coast guard, fisheries surveillance and wooden fishing boats[1][2]
Casualties and losses
None	1 fishing boat sunk[3]

The Hai Yang Shi You 981 standoff, also known as the 2014 China-Vietnam oil rig crisis, refers to the tensions between China and Vietnam arising from the Chinese state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation moving its Hai Yang Shi You 981 (known in Vietnam as "Hải Dương – 981") oil platform to waters near the disputed Paracel Islands in South China Sea, and the resulting Vietnamese efforts to prevent the platform from establishing a fixed position. According to an announcement by the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration of China, the drilling work of the Hai Yang Shi You 981 would last from May 2 to August 15, 2014.^[4] On July 15, China announced that the platform had completed its work and withdrew it fully one month earlier than originally announced.

The standoff is regarded by analysts as the most serious development in the territorial disputes between the two countries ever since the Johnson South Reef Skirmish in 1988 in which 64 Vietnamese soldiers were killed. It has also triggered an unprecedented wave of anti-China protests in Vietnam and attracted political commentators and scholars to re-evaluate Vietnam's diplomatic, security, and domestic policies towards China.