Research Topic
Why did political tensions impact maritime trade between China and Vietnam in the middle of 1914-1916, and what effect did it have?
Background of the study
China and Vietnam have long had a political standoff over their control of the maritime territories. Historically, the Red River Delta, the heart of today’s northern Vietnam was absorbed by the Chinese Han Dynasty in 2 Century BC and was ruled under Han for 1000 years. This led to Vietnam’s familiarity with Chinese political and social structure. After gaining independence, Vietnam still looked to China for direction and growth, leading to high demand for the trade.
Conflicts related to the control of the South China Sea are a significant cause of the standoff and dispute over an oil-drilling rig. Among other effects, political tensions over the South China Sea has different impacts on maritime trade between China and Vietnam. This study intends to examine the implications of political tensions between China and Vietnam caused by the South China Sea dispute on marine trade between the two countries. Despite supporting trade between China and Vietnam, South China Sea serves as a global trade route to other countries such as America. Tensions have escalated maritime insurance costs charged by shipping companies in response to the high level of risks experienced by traders using the South China Sea trade routes. It is imperative to study the impacts of the South China Sea conflict on the levels of trade between China and Vietnam in the context of reduced trade volumes of imports and exports. This is because China and Vietnam have been mentioned as one of such conflicts that threaten international trade because multiple countries depend on the route for delivery of their products to overseas markets as well as to import products from foreign countries.

Research Questions
i. Why could the China-Vietnam South China Sea conflict on maritime trade impact trade relations between the two countries?
ii. How has the China-Vietnam South China Sea conflict caused a reduction in maritime trade between the two countries, if any?
iii. How could effective policies improve maritime trade between China and Vietnam and address the effects of the dispute over the South China Sea?
Preliminary Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis: China-Vietnam tension has caused an impact on maritime trade between the two countries.
Alternative Hypothesis: China-Vietnam tension has not caused an impact on maritime trade between the two countries.

Literature Review
The political tension has been found to impact the maritime trade between China and Vietnam mainly because the business between the networked nations occurs with the good relationship between them. The political tension, results to instability which restrains the good network created hence the economy is deteriorated. In the article of Binh, it is outlined that the past ages when there was no political tension, there existed a good relationship between Vietnam and China hence the economic effects experienced a dramatic development due to good trade relations. The concern is also drawn in Green, Michael et al.’s article whereby the US is after reconciling Vietnam and China to reduce the political tension to minimize the threats by the maritime boundary to its economy.
As the past research by Barley has suggested that any form of conflict between two nations and that threatens maritime trade can result in economic challenges in other countries that are not involved directly in the disagreement, this goes in line with the study’s hypotheses. The hypotheses significantly bring out the picture of the war results and how detrimental they are to the current economy. According to Bateman, Sam, the maritime tensions between the Asian countries have already impacted the continental economy negatively. Even so, Binh analyses the positive impacts that existed between China and Vietnam on the days when they had a good relationship up to 2015. The book elaborates that the trade imbalance is the resultant of Vietnam failure; hence it should strive to balance its trade with China to revive its economy.
In the Gross, Ingrid analyses, China and Vietnam are considered communist countries among the rest. The maritime tension takes a central position in the discussion of the thorny disputes that impact the economy of the two countries. In the Greens et al. article, it is pointed out that the US has the potential to solve the disagreements between China and Vietnam. This is because conflicts have a direct impact on the global economy, and directly to the US economy. Hai also notes that Vietnam has already soughed the help of US and Japan in engaging China in a formal arbitration under the auspices of UN Convention concerning the law of the sea.
Lathrop in his article has given the basis of disagreement between China and Vietnam to be imbalanced trade, as McDorman also presents the guide to the international maritime boundaries which provides the root of the conflict. Other articles that also focus on the conflict between Vietnam and China include Pringle, Tim T., which focuses on the relationship of the two countries and their effects to economic development, as well as Turcsanyi, Richard Q which finalizes on China’s foreign policy assertiveness with the focus on the nation’s principles in the South China Sea.

Work(s) Cited
Bailey, Mark. “Supporting the wartime economy: imperial maritime trade and the globalized maritime trade system, 1914–1916.” Journal for Maritime Research 19.1 (2017): 23-45. Print.
Bateman, Sam. Maritime Challenges and Priorities in Asia: Implications for Regional Security. Routledge, 2012.
Binh, Ngo X. “Main Characteristics of Vietnam–China Trade Relations, 2000–15.” China Report 53.3 (2017): 355-366. Print.
Grosse, Ingrid. “Trade Union Representativeness in Vietnam, China and Sweden How different are trade unions in communist and liberal-democratic countries?” 5th Annual International Conference on Political Science, Sociology and International Relations (PSSIR 2015) (2015): n. Page. Print.
Green, Michael, et al. Asia-Pacific Rebalance 2025: Capabilities, Presence, and Partnerships. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
Hai, Do T. Vietnam and the South China Sea: Politics, Security and Legality. Taylor & Francis, 2016.
Lathrop, Coalter. “China-Vietnam [Report Number 5-25 (Add. 1)].” International Maritime Boundaries Online (2013): 1-6. Print.
McDorman, Ted L. “China-Vietnam [Report Number 5-25].” International Maritime Boundaries Online (n.d.): 3745-3758. Print.
Pringle, Tim T. “Comparing Trade Union Reform in Transitional Societies: Vietnam, China, and Russia.” Labor Market and Industrial Relations in Vietnam (2015): 337-358. Print.
Turcsanyi, Richard Q. Chinese Assertiveness in the South China Sea: Power Sources, Domestic Politics, and Reactive Foreign Policy. Springer, 2017.