Gulf of Tonkin (Bakbo) of the South China Sea off the coast of China and Vietnam

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Gulf of Tonkin is located in the South China Sea off the coast of two countries - China and Vietnam. On the east side, it is separated from the sea by the Leizhui Peninsula and the small island of Hainan, and from the mainland by the Hainan Strait.

Names

Interestingly, the Vietnamese officially call the Gulf of Tonkin Vinhbakbo, which literally means "Northern Gulf". Its name is also known Vinhainam, that is, "Hainan Bay".

The Chinese have their own name - Beibuwan. But the name of the Gulf of Tonkin comes from the old name of the city of Hanoi, which sounds like Tonkin. Later it spread to the entire northern part of Vietnam. China and this country claim the bay.

Features

Backbo Bay, as it is also called, is 330 kilometers long. The entrance is 241 kilometers wide and 82 meters deep.

Tides in the Gulf of Tonkin are daily - up to six meters. The higher water areas are the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.

The rivers Ma and Ka flow into the bay, flowing alongterritories of Vietnam and Laos, as well as the Hong Ha River, which is located in the northern part of Vietnam and in the southern part of China.

Sea

The South China Sea on the map is located off the coast of Southeast Asia, directly between the islands of Palawan, Kalimantan, Taiwan, Luzon and the Indochina Peninsula.

The Gulf of Tonkin and the Gulf of Thailand are considered the largest in the South China Sea. It attracts many, as it is rich in biological resources. Herring, tuna and sardines are considered commercial fish here.

World Heritage Site

One of the main natural attractions in the Gulf of Tonkin is Halong Bay. Some people come to Vietnam specifically to visit it. It is a popular tourist spot in Quang Ninh Province.

The bay includes about three thousand islands, as well as small cliffs, rocks and caves. The total area of the bay is about one and a half thousand square kilometers. The underwater and terrestrial world is highly monotonous. Thanks to him, the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam is one of the most attractive places for tourists.

Literally from the Vietnamese language, Ha Long is translated as "where the dragon descended into the sea." There is a legend according to which the island of the same name was created by a huge dragon. He lived in a mountainous area, and when he got out of there, he hollowed out hollows and valleys of the most unusual kind with his tail. Then he went to sea. The places that were dug out by the tail filled with water, as a result, only small islands remained.land.

Currently, Tuan Chau, where Ho Chi Minh's summer residence was located, is considered the most civilized. It is also planned to build a large-scale resort complex there.

A large island in Halong Bay - Cat Ba. In 1986, about half of its territory officially became a national park. Here you can see a large number of waterfalls, lakes and grottoes, along the coast of amazing beauty there are coral reefs. Famous caves in the bay are Maiden, Bonau Grotto, Heavenly Palace. The grotto Drum is also known, which is so called because of the sounds similar to the drum rhythm that were heard from it during gusts of wind.

Climate in the bay

The climate here is tropical. There are only two seasons - cold and dry winters and wet and hot summers. The average annual temperature ranges from 15 to 25 degrees.

About two thousand millimeters of precipitation falls annually.

History

This bay has been the scene of many important battles involving Vietnam and its coastal neighbors. Due to the winding labyrinth of canals and rocks, the Vietnamese army managed to stop the aggression of the Chinese neighbors three times.

In 1288, the Vietnamese commander-in-chief Tran Hung Dao managed to stop the Mongol invasion. Enemy ships tried to make their way along the nearby river called Bach Dang. For this, steel boards were installed at high tide. As a result, the fleet of the Mongol Khan Kublai Khan was flooded.

At the end of the 18th century, the bay became a refuge fornumerous pirates whom the Vietnamese and Chinese authorities could not destroy. Only in 1810 they were forced to leave these places, hiding from the British fleet along the rivers.

During the years of the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1957 to 1975, most of the passages in the bay were mined by the US Navy. Some of them still pose a serious threat. During the years of this confrontation with the Americans, neighboring China provided support to North Vietnam by supplying anti-aircraft guns and ships. Based in Ha Long, they were used by the Vietnamese navy to prevent a possible Chinese invasion, as well as to monitor the coast.

Currently, about one and a half thousand people live in the bay. They are located in four fishing villages - Bahang, Kyavan, Vong Vienga and Kong Tau.

Incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin

Under this name, two episodes that occurred in these waters in the summer of 1964 are known. They involved the naval forces of North Vietnam and the United States. As a result of the second incident, the US Congress adopted the Tonkin Resolution. She officially authorized Johnson to begin the direct use of force in the Vietnam War.

Recall that in 1954 Vietnam was divided into two parts as a result of the Geneva Accords, which ended France's colonial war in Indochina. Then it was assumed that within a few years it would be possible to hold a democratic vote, after which both parts of the country would be reunited. Butthe vote was disrupted.

In 1957, communist guerrillas from South Vietnam launched an armed resistance against the pro-American leadership led by Ngo Dinh Diem, disrupting the implementation of the Geneva Accords.

By 1964, the Americans supported the government of South Vietnam, providing military advisers and weapons, but did not take a direct part in the war. In August, an American ship was in the bay, which carried out electronic reconnaissance. It was the destroyer Maddox.

August 2, 1964

The first incident occurred on August 2nd. According to the Americans, the Maddox was in international waters. The crew spotted three North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching.

According to the crew, they acted belligerently, the commander of the ship ordered to shoot in the air. In response, the boats began firing torpedoes at the destroyer, but they passed by. Car-based fighters entered the sea battle, which were performing a training flight. Having received damage, they stopped the attack. It is believed that one of the boats was sunk.

According to the Vietnamese side, a squadron of torpedo boats attacked the Maddox, driving it out. At the same time, questions remain as to where exactly the destroyer was located, perhaps it entered the territorial waters belonging to North Vietnam. The US authorities decided not to react in any way to the events in the Gulf of Tonkin, considering it an accident.

August 4, 1964

August 4, a tropical storm hit the bay. The radars of the American destroyers identified an unidentified vessel. The captains received a warning through intelligence channels of an alleged attack from the North Vietnamese fleet. Radars showed that about ten unidentified objects were approaching the destroyers, the Americans opened fire.

The planes took off from the aircraft carrier, but did not find other ships. A storm arose, so the destroyer crews did not visually find any objects that could be identified as North Vietnamese boats.

At this time, reports of the alleged attack were delivered to Washington. The situation was extremely confusing, conflicting information was constantly received. President Johnson, mindful of the incident two days earlier, assumed the possibility of a second attack. He gave the order to launch airstrikes on the bases of torpedo boats, in particular, on the oil storage, so that the boats were left without fuel. On August 5, an operation known as the Piercing Arrow was carried out. This turned out to be the first US air attack on North Vietnam.

The American Congress was confronted with the fact of two aggressive actions of the naval forces of an Asian country at once. The so-called "Tonkinese Resolution" was adopted, which allowed Johnson to act decisively to prevent further attacks. This document became the legal permission to launch a full-scale military operation against Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

Many expertsnoted that this incident was provoked by the American leadership in order to obtain a formal pretext for starting hostilities.