“The military exercise of the Chinese Navy’s South Sea Fleet in Hoang Sa area seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the archipelago ran counter to the ASEAN-China Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and negatively affected peace and stability in the region,” said spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga.

Nga made this statement while answering reporters’ queries about Vietnam’s reaction to the February 3 defence exercise of China’s South Sea Fleet as reported by China Radio International two days later.

“Vietnam requests China to put an end to all actions that violate Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, not to let similar affairs occur in the future and join concerned parties in strictly implementing DOC, to maintain peace and stability in the East Sea,” the spokeswoman stressed.