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Vietnam denounces China’s escalation of tension in East Vietnam Sea

Vietnam denounces China’s escalation of tension in East Vietnam Sea

Friday, June 27, 2014, 15:38 GMT+7

China has committed many acts that have caused more tension in the East Vietnam Sea, where it has illegally deployed an oil rig since May 1, neglecting Vietnam’s demand for an immediate removal of the rig, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

>> China issues new map illegally claiming sovereignty in East Vietnam Sea >> Vietnam's legislature denounces China’s violation of sovereignty>> Vietnam Coast Guard closely monitoring China’s 2nd oil rig >> Vietnam President affirms determination to protect national sovereignty >> Clip: Chinese vessel rams, sinks Vietnam fishing boat The ministry made the statement at its regular press conference held in Hanoi yesterday.

Among these acts are the recent deployment of another oil rig, Nan Hai Jiu Hao, near the Gulf of Tonkin, the aggressive attacks on Vietnamese vessels by Chinese ships that have been guarding the drilling platform Haiyang Shiyou 981 in Vietnamese waters near Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, and the issuing of a new map putting nearly all of the East Vietnam Sea under China’s sovereignty, the ministry said. The ministry’s spokesman Le Hai Binh said that at 1:00 pm on June 21, Vietnam’s concerned agencies found out that China had deployed the new rig to a location at 17°14.1' north latitude and 109°31' east longitude in the East Vietnam Sea, as previously informed by the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration (MSA).

On June 24, the MSA announced that the new rig was scheduled to operate there from June 23 to August 20 for purposes of global physical surveillance and exploration. 

The Nan Hai Jiu Hao platform is now located in an area off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin, and Vietnam and China have yet to complete their negotiation on fixing a line to delineate the maritime boundary between the two countries in this gulf, Binh said.

“According to international law and practice, no parties are allowed to conduct oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities in any overlapping sea waters where a delineation has yet to be done,” Binh stressed.

Notably, the spokesman said, China deployed this rig immediately after Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi arrived in Vietnam for a visit on June 18.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper's clip of an attack by Chinese vessels on Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ship KN-951 on June 23, 2014

Illegal “10-dash-line” map

Along with such actions, China has recently launched a new map that includes a “10-dash line” claiming nearly all of the East Vietnam Sea as part of China’s territorial waters, Binh said.            This map, which was issued by Hunan Map Publishing House, shows a “10-dash line” that deeply encroaches on the territorial waters of four countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

This map is not based on any legal foundation and seriously violates international law, Binh said.

Previously, China has issued many maps showing ‘the cow’s tongue line” [also called the nine-dash line], which claims about 80 percent of the East Vietnam Sea.

Such maps have been rejected by Vietnam and many international experts, as they are not based on any legal foundation and violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the spokesman said.

China has also put Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa archipelagoes into China’s new system of registration of land use rights, kicked off a project to build schools on Phu Lam Island, part of Truong Sa, and expanded a number of areas in Truong Sa that China used force to occupy in March 1988.

Cruel attacks

Along with the above acts, Chinese ships that are escorting the illegal rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 in the Vietnamese waters have continuously rammed or fired water cannons at local vessels that have been trying to drive the foreign ships away from the sea area, Ha Le, deputy head of the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department said at the conference.

Such attacks have injured 15 fisheries surveillance officers and two fishermen as well as damaged 27 boats of Vietnam’s marine law enforcement and Coast Guard forces and seven fishing boats of local fishermen, Le said. Most recently, Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ship KN-951 was rammed twice by two Chinese tugboats #11 and #285 when it was operating in an area 11.5 nautical miles from the rig on June 23. During the attack, the local vessel was also blasted with high-pressure water by Chinese ship #11. Earlier, at 4:00 pm on May 26, a Vietnamese fishing boat, DNa 90152, of central Da Nang City, was hit and sunk by Chinese vessel #11209 with 10 fishermen on board. The cruel assault occurred when the local vessel was operating in an area in the Vietnamese waters, about 17 nautical miles south-southwest of the Chinese rig. The hard hit threw eight of its crew members into the sea. At the time, two other fishermen remained in the cabin.

Luckily, the trapped fishermen managed to exit the cabin from glass windows that had broken during the attack. About 20 minutes later, another Vietnamese ship, also from Da Nang, found the victims and saved all of them.

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