Vietnam requests China to respect sovereignty

The statement was made by spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi at the Foreign Ministry’s regular press briefing in Hanoi on October 11.

In reply to media questions about Vietnam’s response to China’s recent acts, Nghi said China has violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

Following a series of illegal activities of building and developing the so-called “Sansha city”, China held a flag raising ceremony on October 1 to mark its National Day on Phu Lam island in the Hoang Sa archipelago.

On October 3, the Chinese navy’s Nanhai Fleet held an exercise in the waters of the Hoang Sa archipelago and five days later, China set up a meteorological station of the so-called Sansha city.

Earlier, on September 23, the Chinese press reported that China will deploy unmanned aircraft to intensify the surveillance of the waters, including the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

The Chinese side’s above mentioned acts seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, international law and the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues between Vietnam and China signed in October 2011, Nghi noted.

They also ran counter to the spirit of the Declaration on Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed between ASEAN and China in 2002, thus further complicating the East Sea situation. These acts are totally null and void, he affirmed.

At the press briefing on the same day, in response to a question on a cooperation agreement between Sudan and South Sudan signed on September 27, Nghi said that Vietnam welcomes the agreement and believes that the document will contribute to boosting the two countries’ relations for the common interests of each country’s people and for peace and stability in the region.

Vietnam hopes that the two sides will continue negotiations to solve all issues in the spirit of mutual understanding, he added.