ASEAN, China share responsibility for maintaining peace in East Sea
All countries in the region, including ASEAN and China, share the responsibility for maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra told a room of reporters on Thursday.
Deputy Spokesperson of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Nguyen Phuong Tra. Photo: MOFA
Tra stressed the point in response to reporters’ question regarding Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s recent statement saying that China hopes consultation with ASEAN on a Code of Conduct in the East Sea would be completed in three years.
ASEAN has repeatedly affirmed that the bloc expects to conclude the Code of Conduct soon and it shall be a practical and effective Code of Conduct with respect for international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in order to ensure peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea and in the region as well.
Regarding China’s installation of a new structure in Bong Bay Reef in Viet Nam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, Tra stated Viet Nam resolutely opposes China’s installation of the structure and demands China immediately end the operation and not conduct similar actions.
Viet Nam also demands China respect Viet Nam’s sovereignty and international law, take practical actions to contribute to the development of the two countries’ friendship and cooperation as well as to the maintenance of peace and stability in the East Sea, Tra said.
She reaffirmed Viet Nam has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence to prove its sovereignty over both Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in accordance with international law.
Tra went on to say that China’s continuous conduct of activities in Viet Nam’s Hoang Sa seriously violates Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the archipelago and goes against the common perceptions of the two countries’ senior leaders, infringing upon the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea issues signed between Viet Nam and China, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea inked between ASEAN and China in 2002, and making the situation in the East Sea more complicated and tense.
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