Vietnam demands China to withdraw ships from its territorial waters
Chủ nhật - 15/09/2019 23:152990
Vietnam resolutelyopposes Chinese survey vessel groupHaiyang Dizhi 8’s continuedserious violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty right and jurisdiction interritorial waters as defined in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Lawof the Sea (UNCLOS), the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang hassaid.
A Vietnam Coast Guard ship is on mission around the DK1/15 oil rig - Photo: VNA
While answering reporters’ queries relating toHaiyang Dizhi 8’s return to Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone andcontinental shelf at a press conference on September 12, Hang said that Vietnamhas also pointed out adverse impacts of the vessel group’s violations on thefriendship between the two countries, as well as peace, security and stabilityin the East Sea and the region.
“For those reasons, Vietnam demands China to immediately stopits serious violations and withdraw all of the vessels fromVietnam’s territorial waters”, she stressed.
Regarding China’s recent statements on Vietnam’s economicactivities in its territorial waters, the spokeswoman affirmed Vietnam’sconsistent viewpoints that all of its maritime economic activities, includingoil and gas exploitation, have been carried out within Vietnam’s exclusiveeconomic zone and continental shelf as defined from the land territory in linewith the 1982 UNCLOS to which both Vietnam and China are members.
Hang emphasised that the 1982 UNCLOS serves as the only legalbasis for nations to determine their territorial waters as well as their rightsto their territorial waters, which has been observed by countries, recognizedby courts and supported by prestigious international lawyers.
Therefore, no country can give claims on waters in the EastSea that exceed geographical limitations and go beyond contents of the 1982UNCLOS, she added.
Illegal and unsuitable claims which are unconformable to the1982 UNCLOS cannot be used as the foundations to assert the existence ofdisputed and overlapped waters, the spokeswoman said.
These above-said acts that hinder Vietnam’s oil and gasactivities in its territorial waters are violating international law and the1982 UNCLOS, Hang said.
The spokeswoman also reaffirmed Vietnam’s stance on itssovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.
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