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Vietnamese irredentism

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Vietnamese irredentism is an irredentist and nationalist claim concerning redemption of former territories of Vietnam and territories outside Vietnam that the Vietnamese have inhabited for centuries. Notable claims are usually made concerning territories of Laos, Cambodia, and Liangguang of China.[1]

Background

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The Baiyue people, from which the modern Vietnamese people (also called "Viet" or "Kinh") are descended, have long inhabited a vast variety of land of what would be known as modern China, Vietnam and Laos. As for the result of migration, the Viet tribes moved southward and eventually established itself in what would be known as northern Vietnam and southern China today, which became the ancestral homeland of Vietnamese people.[2] Later, there were northern expansions toward Chinese territory, and sea expeditions to gain control over the Malay peninsula, though it was short-lived. Nonetheless, during these expansions, Vietnamese imperial rulers adopted Vietnamization policy, hoping to subjugate and Vietnamize people from the land they conquered.[citation needed]

French imperialism at the 19th century resulted in the establishment of French Indochina, where French colonial rulers adopted a divide-and-rule policy.[3][4][5]

China and origin of Chinese civilizations

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Due to historical conflict and numerous territorial changes with China, especially regarding Baiyue, some Vietnamese nationalists have irredentist claims to parts of southern China. Some pushed far as claiming the first founding civilization in the Yellow River Basin including the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou dynasties being of Vietnamese/Baiyue origins.[6]

Laos and Cambodia

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See also: Nam tiến, Indochinese Union, People's Republic of Kampuchea, and Indochinese Communist Party

Vietnam and Laos fought in several conflicts in the 15th century. Meanwhile, Cambodia was slowly absorbed to Vietnamese influence in 17th century, but it was not until the early 19th century that Vietnam briefly established its control.[7]

Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia

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Its conflict with the Siamese, which began in 18th century, had been one of the prolonged war, in which Vietnam slowly transformed to become a Southeast Asian power despite Siamese efforts to prevent it.[8]

During the 15th century, the Vietnamese, which proceeded the most powerful army in Southeast Asia, had planned for a naval expedition against Malacca Sultanate and launched naval attacks on Malay ships and sailors. Following the pressure by the Ming dynasty, the Vietnamese backtracked and eventually abandoned the plan to conquer Malacca.[9]

Internal Vietnam

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Champa

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Map of Champa in green. It's Vietnam's first rival other than China when the Vietnamese regained independence before being incorporated at 1471 and smaller Cham Kingdoms went scattered until 19th century.

The Kingdom of Champa was once an ancient kingdom in what would be modern-day Central Vietnam, influenced by the extension of Indian civilization. The relationship between two, if not to say, often fluctuated between peace and hostility. However, with the end of the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, increasing Vietnamese militarism and southward expansion had led to the demise of Champa and its eventual fate of being conquered at the end of the 1471 war. Since then, there had been a number of rebellions against Vietnamese rule by the Chams since and was marred by growing Islamization of Chams, the most severe happened in the 19th century when Katip Sumat uprising coincided with Ja Thak Wa uprising, where Islam was introduced as a weapon of resistance against Vietnamese Empire;[10] and in 20th century when the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO) was established to fight off Vietnamese persecution. In response, the Vietnamese military began persecuting Chams and drafted them into its rank, while there were persecutions over their Hindu and Islamic faith.

Central Highlands

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Map of Central Highlands. Vietnam conquered the land only in 19th century.

The Central Highlands was incorporated into Vietnamese territory by the end of 18th century but only got formal control from 19th century onward. For the first decades under Nguyễn dynasty, the Vietnamese paid little interest to the region and prohibited Vietnamese settlers from ever going here. But with the French conquest, the Vietnamese had taken significant interests due to large natural resources in the region.[11] Its strategic location is also another important reason for Vietnam to begin to increase its control over the land.[12] The French supported the Christianization of Montagnards.

These people to take up arms and rebelled against Vietnamese, no matter the north or south. The United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races was established with object of fighting against Vietnamese rule.[13] The persecution continued even after 1975.[14]

Mekong Delta

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Map of Mekong Delta. Vietnam conquered the land only in 18th century. Vietnamese settlers however had begun to colonize it in 17th century.

The Mekong Delta had been historically under the Khmer Empire, where the Khmer Krom, a subgroup of the larger Khmer people, inhabited the land. Up until 17th century, the land had been mostly marked with little interests even during the height of the Khmer civilization. However, due to the decline of Cambodia and wars with Siam, the Cambodian court had to take refuge and neglected the Mekong Delta's interests. On the same time, due to southern expansion, Vietnamese settlers had begun to takeover the Mekong Delta. The takeover began with most of its population were settlers, and later doubled by a large number of Chinese refugees fleeing from the Manchu Qing dynasty.[15] These Chinese refugees went Vietnamized in majority and helped expanding Vietnamese military and political privileges over the Delta with the blessing from Nguyễn lords.[16] There had been several attempts by Cambodian Court to restrict Vietnamese migration to even recovering of territory, but was unsuccessful.[17]

The Khmer Krom, which had traditionally aligned itself with Cambodia, were dissatisfied with Vietnamese rule and had tried to re-incorporate the land to Cambodia. As a consequence, Emperor Minh Mạng decided to Vietnamize the Khmer population "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs."[18][19]

Spratly and Paracel

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Like many nations involving in the islands' disputes, Vietnam has been a major participant. For the Vietnamese, controlling these islands have been instrumental in reinforcing historical claim in a very divisive series of islands' claims containing the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.

In Vietnamese irredentist version, the Paracel Islands were first discovered by a group of naval force working under the Nguyễn lords, known as Hoàng Sa group (hence the Vietnamese name), and this was done at 1686, while China was busy concentrating on its internal affairs.[20] The same issue came with Spratly islands, with Vietnamese source claims to have been traced from 17th century.[21][22]

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam ceded its territorial claim over these islands to China, although China did not have any major military activities there until 1973, probably in order to maintain support from the Chinese and Soviets to reinforce for its military against the south and the United States.[20] However, the 1974 Battle of the Paracel Islands was instrumental on letting the North to eventually withdraw its recognition of China's claims and rekindled back the territorial disputes over these islands, as the unified communist authority of Vietnam decided to inherit both the claim of the late Republic against China.[23] Since then, the two nations later fought for control in the Johnson South Reef Skirmish, this time ended with another Chinese victory, but has left a denting legacy on eventual tensions between the two countries as South China Sea disputes evoked back from 2010s and further boosting irredentist sentiment.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ https://countrystudies.us/vietnam/59.htm
  2. ^ "HAL-SHS - Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - Accueil" (PDF). hal.archives-ouvertes.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-10-18.
  3. ^ Highlights, Asia. "The French Colonial Legacy in Vietnam". Asia Highlights. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  4. ^ Baird, Ian G. (2010). "Different views of history: Shades of irredentism along the Laos—Cambodia border". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 41 (2): 187–213. doi:10.1017/S0022463410000020. ISSN 0022-4634. JSTOR 20778873. S2CID 154683966.
  5. ^ "Vietnam - Laos and Cambodia". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  6. ^ "Nhìn lại lịch sử Bách Việt và quá trình Hán hóa Bách Việt". tiasang.com.vn.
  7. ^ "Cambodia - Tai and Vietnamese hegemony". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  8. ^ Vickery, Michael (1996). "Mak Phœun: Histoire du Cambodge de la fin du XVIe au début du XVIIIe siècle" (PDF). Persee. Michael Vickery. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  9. ^ Wade, Geoff (2005), Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, p. 2427, retrieved 6 November 2012
  10. ^ "Vietnam-Champa Relations and the Malay-Islam Regional Network in the 17th–19th Centuries | Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia". kyotoreview.org. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  11. ^ Lawrence H. Climo, M.D. (20 December 2013). The Patient Was Vietcong: An American Doctor in the Vietnamese Health Service, 1966–1967. McFarland. pp. 227–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7899-6.
  12. ^ Lawrence H. Climo, M.D. (20 December 2013). The Patient Was Vietcong: An American Doctor in the Vietnamese Health Service, 1966–1967. McFarland. pp. 228–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7899-6.
  13. ^ "Vietnam War left a painful legacy for indigenous minority that fought alongside U.S." Los Angeles Times. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  14. ^ Evans, Grant (1992). "Internal Colonialism in the Central Highlands of Vietnam". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. 7 (2): 274–304. doi:10.1355/SJ7-2E. ISSN 0217-9520. JSTOR 41056853. S2CID 144638872.
  15. ^ Choi, Byung Wook (2018). Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mang (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response. Book collections on Project MUSE (illustrated ed.). Cornell University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-1501719523.
  16. ^ AMER, RAMSES (1993). "Sino—Vietnamese Relations and Southeast Asian Security". Contemporary Southeast Asia. 14 (4): 314–331. doi:10.1355/CS14-4B. JSTOR 25798168 – via JSTOR.
  17. ^ Weber, N. (2012). The destruction and assimilation of Campā (1832-35) as seen from Cam sources. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 43(1), 158-180. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/41490300
  18. ^ A. Dirk Moses (1 January 2008). Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History. Berghahn Books. pp. 209–. ISBN 978-1-84545-452-4.
  19. ^ TA, VAN TAI. "The Vietnamese Tradition of Human Rights" (PDF). Indochina Research Monograph. INSTITUTE OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES ^§V) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA • BERKELEY: 134.
  20. ^ a b Brad Lendon (29 August 2019). "The tiny islands that could explode the China-Vietnam relationship". CNN.
  21. ^ "Nguồn gốc đặt tên cho Quần đảo Trường Sa". Báo Nghệ An điện tử. September 28, 2011.
  22. ^ "MỘT SỐ TƯ LIỆU LỊCH SỬ, PHÁP LÝ VỀ CHỦ QUYỀN CỦA VIỆT NAM ĐỐI VỚI HAI QUẦN ĐẢO HOÀNG SA VÀ TRƯỜNG SA" (PDF). yenbai.gov.vn. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  23. ^ Pham, Nga (January 15, 2014). "Vietnam marks South China Sea battle". BBC News.
  24. ^ "Vietnamese activists remember 1988 Spratly Islands clash with China | DW | 14.03.2016". DW.COM.
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