There’s a paradox very few people are willing to talk about when it comes to the dispute between China and Vietnam. People talk a lot about sovereignty, but almost no one asks the more important question: what is the point of holding the Paracel Islands?
The Paracels are not rich in natural resources, as many assume. Their real value is strategic, rooted in military positioning and the ability to influence key shipping lanes in the South China Sea.
But a strategic position only matters if you have the military strength, economic capacity, and political influence to actually use it.
If you lack the ability to convert that advantage into real power, then holding a strategic flashpoint can sometimes become more of a burden than a benefit.
And here’s where it becomes controversial: a superpower like China is far more capable of leveraging a position like this than a smaller country.
So the question is no longer who is right or wrong, but this: who has the capacity to turn the Paracels into a strategic advantage, and who is simply holding a liability?