Le Thi Thu Hang, spokeswoman and director of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information, protested Thursday (October 1) against China’s military exercises in the South China Sea this week, saying the actions were harmful to the negotiations on the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC).
In a regular briefing by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, Le Thi Thu Heng said that the Chinese military’s action hurts China’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and complicates the resumption of long-awaited negotiations on a code of conduct between China and ASEAN.
In the briefing, Le Thi Thu Hang said, “Due to the prolonged stagnation of negotiations between China and ASEAN caused by the neo-crown virus pandemic, the resumption of negotiations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea is a matter of urgency.”
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for negotiations on the South China Sea dispute between the two countries during a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday (September 29), according to official Vietnamese media reports.
In response to an article in Vietnam’s Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily about Beijing’s military exercises near the Paracel Islands (China’s Paracel Islands), Nguyen Xuan Phuc suggested to Chinese President Xi Jinping that the two countries should work together to resolve existing issues, especially the maritime dispute.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also said that both leaders have stressed the need for cooperation in the conflict.
The Chinese military conducted live-fire military exercises in the waters off the Paracel Islands (China’s Paracel Islands) on Monday (September 28), the third time this year that China has conducted military exercises in the region, after the previous two on June 18 and July 1.
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said in August that the presence of Chinese bombers in the Paracel Islands (China’s Paracel Islands) endangered peace in the region.
On Thursday, Le Thi Thu Chang said again that Vietnam asked China to respect its sovereignty and not to repeat such military exercises in the region.
On November 4, 2002, during the ASEAN-China Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the foreign ministers and their representatives signed a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Article X of the Declaration clearly states that “the parties concerned reaffirm that the formulation of a code of conduct in the South China Sea will further promote peace and stability in the region and agree to work toward the ultimate goal on the basis of consensus among the parties.
For many years, China has had sovereignty disputes with coastal states in the South China Sea. In recent months, China has frequently held military exercises in this disputed strategic shipping lane area, which has raised concerns among some ASEAN countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, that China’s actions are adversely affecting the environment of peace, stability, and cooperation in the South China Sea.
The United States has also condemned China’s recent bullying actions in the South China Sea and accused China of trying to build an “ocean empire” in the potentially energy-rich waters.
Beijing responded that the United States and its Western allies have been sending naval vessels to the region to disrupt and endanger security in the area.
China claims historical jurisdiction over approximately 80 percent of the South China Sea, using a U-shaped “nine-dash line” that includes a large portion of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as well as the Paracel (China’s Paracel) and Spratly (China’s Nansha) Islands. The waters within the nine-dashed line also overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
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