May 24, 2019
Vietnam says it has sufficient legal footing to contest two territories in South China Sea.
Vietnam has sufficient legal foundation and historical evidence to affirm its sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa or Paracel and Trường Sa or Spratley islands in accordance with international law.
Both are contested territories in the South China Sea, a resource rich body of water disputed between China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
This statement was made by Spokesperson for the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lê Thị Thu Hằng at a regular ministry press conference in Hanoi yesterday in response to reporters’ queries about Vietnam’s reaction to China’s organisation of the seventh Sinan Cup Regatta. The sailing competition, held from April 22 to 26, took place in the area of Duy Mộng island which belongs to Vietnam’s Paracel claims.
China’s organisation of the event seriously infringed upon Vietnam’s sovereignty over the archipelago, running counter to the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea issues between Vietnam and China and the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), known as East Sea in Vietnam. It complicated the situation and was not conducive to the maintenance of a peaceful and stable environment in the East Sea, the spokesperson said.
“Vietnam asks China to respect her sovereignty over Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa archipelagos without repeating the activity or conducting others which intensely raise and complicate the situation in the region,” she said.
The spokesperson also fielded reporters’ questions about the information in a report issued on May 20 by experts from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. It found that environmentally destructive Chinese clam harvesting boats have increased their activity in the East Sea, especially around the waters of Bông Bay (Bombay) Reef and Bạch Quy Island in the Hoàng Sa archipelago.
She said the exploitation of natural resources in the East Sea should comply with the provisions of international law as stated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as respect the sovereignty and rights of coastal nations and abide by regulations on the protection of marine environments.
Countries also need to obey their obligations under international treaties on the environment, she said.