(VOV) - Three years after the US withdrew its troops out of Iraq in December 2011, the country once again has plunged into violence due to the insurgence of jihadists of the Islamic State.

(VOV) - In a Joint Communiqué released in Myanmar on August 10, ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed serious concern over recent tensions in the East Sea and reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, maritime security as well as freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the sea.

(VOV) - Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has expressed deep concern about recent East Sea tensions, especially Chinese placement of its oil platform Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s waters, and said more efforts are needed to prevent similar actions in the future.

(VOV) - Recent tensions in the East Sea after China’s illegal placement of its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf were the topic of a recent seminar of the Asian Commission of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI) in Buenos Aires.

(VOV) -A dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights is an important cooperative activity between Vietnam and the UN’s Universal Periodic Review on human rights. 

(VOV) - The current territorial dispute in the East Sea should be resolved through peaceful measures so as to create a peaceful environment for cooperation and development, an international conference heard in HCM City on July 25.

At 18:30 on July 16, China’s oil rig Haiyang Shiyou – 981 was 41 nautical miles from its previous position and out of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, about 163 nautical miles southwest of China’s Hainan island, reported the Vietnam Coast Guard High Command. 

Vietnam demands China not take its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 back or dispatch any other rigs to Vietnam’s oil and gas Block 143 or any other areas belonging to Vietnam’s waters as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to create a peaceful and stable environment in the East Sea.

(VOV) - The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced on July 15 that the rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 has completed the drilling and exploration near Tri Ton island of Vietnam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, and is heading towards Lingshui region of Hainan island.

Chinese ships protecting the illegally-placed oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 on July 14 continued taking aggressive acts to hinder Vietnamese law enforcement ships that were operating in their national waters.