Hoa community against China’s illegal acts in East Sea
The Hoa (ethnic Chinese) community in Ho Chi Minh City has expressed very strong disapproval of China’s illegal act of placing the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig in Vietnam’s waters.
Head of the municipal Department for Ethnic Groups Ngo Van Trien was speaking during a working session between the municipal Party Committee and the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Popularisation and Education on May 27.
Hoa Intellectuals, traders, enterprises and students in the city have expressed hope that China will swiftly withdraw its rig from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as well as restrain itself to avoid causing conflicts between the two countries, Trien said.
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan said citizens have vehemently opposed China as the country illegally stationed its drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters, saying that the move seriously violates Vietnam’s sovereignty and negatively affects the countries’ friendship.
They have also shown their support for the Party and State’s consistent stance in the issue.
*** Buddhist monks, nuns and followers in the central city of Danang on May 28 prayed for peace in the East Sea following China’s illegal act of positioning its Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters.
Acting head of Danang’s Vietnam Buddhist Shangha Executive Board Thich Thien Nguyen declared that China’s deed seriously violates international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, to which China is a signatory.
It also infringes Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, threatening security, peace, stability and maritime safety in the East Sea, he said, adding that using force to pursue undeserved benefit is blameworthy.
The monk asked China to immediately end provocative acts that can escalate tensions in the East Sea and withdraw the rig from Vietnam’s waters.