Gulf of Tonkin

This article is about the body of water. For the 1964 military incident, see Gulf of Tonkin incident. For the American political resolution, see Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. For the economic zone, see Gulf of Tonkin Economic Belt.

The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of 126,250 km² (48,750 sq mi). It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern coastline of Vietnam down to the Cồn Cỏ district, in the north by China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and to the east by the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island.

Gulf of Tonkin
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	北部灣 東京灣
Simplified Chinese	北部湾 东京湾
Literal meaning	Northern Gulf Gulf of Tonkin
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Běibù Wān Dōngjīng Wān Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Bak1 bou6 waan1 Dung1 ging1 waan1 Southern Min Hainanese Romanization Pak-pōe oân Tang-kiann oân
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Vịnh Bắc Bộ Vịnh Bắc Phần Vịnh Đông Kinh Vịnh Bắc Việt
Chữ Hán	泳北部 泳北份 泳東京 泳北越

True color satellite image of the Gulf of Tonkin

English sources from the People's Republic of China refer to the Gulf of Tonkin as Beibu Wan.

Description and etymology

The name Tonkin, written "東京" in chữ Hán characters and Đông Kinh in the Vietnamese alphabet, means "eastern capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the present capital of Vietnam. It is not to be confused with Tokyo, which is also written "東京" and also means "eastern capital". During the French colonial era, the northern region of today’s Vietnam was called Tonkin.

Bắc Bộ is the native Vietnamese name of Tonkin. The bay's Vietnamese and Chinese names – Vịnh Bắc Bộ and Běibù Wān, respectively – both mean "Northern Bay".

The Gulf of Tonkin is a relatively shallow portion of the Pacific Ocean; the majority of the gulf's ocean floor is less than 75 metres (246 ft) in depth, and no part of the gulf is submerged in more than 100 metres (330 ft) of water.

History

Gulf of Tonkin incident

Main article: Gulf of Tonkin incident

On 4 August 1964, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson claimed that North Vietnamese forces had twice attacked American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Known today as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, this event spawned the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 7 August 1964, ultimately leading to open war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. It furthermore foreshadowed the major escalation of the Vietnam War in South Vietnam, which began with the landing of US regular combat troops at Da Nang in 1965.

Maritime border issue in the Gulf of Tonkin

On December 25, 2000, Vietnam and China signed an Agreement on the Delimitation of the Gulf of Tonkin. An Agreement took effect on June 30, 2004, officially defining the maritime border between the two countries in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Map of the maritime border between Vietnam and China in the Gulf of Tonkin. The red dot is Bach Long Vi Island

On March 1, 2024, China issued a “Declaration on the baselines of the territorial waters in the northern part of the Gulf of Tonkin”. Vietnam calls on China to respect international law.

See also

• Port of Beibu Gulf
• Geography of China
• Geography of Vietnam
• Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club

Further reading

• Cooke, Nola; Li, Tana; Anderson, James A., eds. (2011). The Tongking Gulf Through History. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812243369.
• Churchman, Catherine (2016). The People Between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200–750 CE. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1442258600.