Tonkin Gulf
The Tonkin Gulf is connected to the Pacific Ocean at the northwest arm of the South China Sea. The gulf is 500 kilometers long, 250 kilometers wide, and 70 meters deep at its deepest point. It borders northern Vietnam to the west, Hainan Island to the east, and China to the north and east, and receives the Red River out of northern Vietnam. The main ports on the gulf include Ben Thuy and Haiphong in northern Vietnam and Pei-hai (Pakhoi) in China. The gulf's main shipping route is through the Hainan Strait, between China and Hainan Island.
The Gulf of Tonkin is probably best known in recent history as the site of the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incidents, when in August 1964, torpedo boats of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) fired on U.S. naval forces that were in the area in an intelligencegathering operation. The incidents resulted in the U.S. Congress's adopting the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 7 August 1964; this resolution supported an increase in American involvement in the Vietnam War. Naval activity in the gulf was heavy during the war; Soviet ships ferried supplies to the DRV, and the United States sought to interdict the activity, particularly in 1972, when the U.S. Navy mined the entrances to North Vietnamese ports.
Sanpans crossing the Vietnam–China border in the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of Mong Cai, Vietnam, in 1993. (ROBERT MAASS/CORBIS)Further Reading
Cima, Ronald J., ed. (1989) Vietnam: A Country Study. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Dutt, Ashok J., ed. (1985) Southeast Asia: Realm of Contrasts. 3d rev. ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Moise, Edwin E. (1996) Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
This is the complete article, containing 284 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
