Newly elected Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang swore to resolutely safeguard the territorial sovereignty and national security, as he officially took office on Saturday.

Quang, the incumbent Minister of Public Security, was named Vietnam’s new head of state by the National Assembly on Saturday morning, after which he made an oath of allegiance to the country, people, and constitution.

“I swear to resolutely and persistently fight to protect Vietnam’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the national interest and security,” he said.

The new president underlined the need of protecting the national sovereignty just one day after a lawmaker said that Vietnam’s assessment of the sovereignty situation is not accurate enough.

Sovereignty ensured or not?

While Vietnam has always asserted that the national sovereignty is ensured, Le Van Lai made no secret of his skepticism of such statement as he addressed the lawmaking National Assembly on Friday.

Lai, who represents voters of the central province of Quang Nam, said he has tried to force himself to agree to the assessment that Vietnam’s sovereignty is ensured.

“But to say the truth, the efforts went to no avail,” he said as lawmakers gathered in Hanoi for a meeting to recap eco-social development programs in the 2011-15 period and set plans for the next five-year term.

Lai dedicated what could well be his very last speech as a National Assembly delegate at the Friday meeting to underline the need of a more straightforward and accurate assessment of the situation of the national sovereignty.

Vietnam will vote for members of the new National Assembly in May.

Vietnam's lawmaker Le Van Lai. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Lai listed a number of actions China has taken to violate Vietnam’s sovereignty in the last five years.

China has sent fighter aircraft to and illegally stationed an oil rig platform in Vietnam’s waters; built an illegal airstrip in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago; and bullied, robbed of, and even killed Vietnamese fishermen, according to the law marker.

“There are no words other than ‘severe violations of national sovereignty’ to describe these actions,” he concluded.

“Despite all of these violations, we just sit here and say ‘national sovereignty is ensured. It is right to do so? How would such [inaccurate] situation assessments lead to adequate policies, strategies, protests or objections?” he questioned.

Lai therefore strongly suggested that other lawmakers review the assessment of the sovereignty situation in the last five years, because “only with a correct assessment can we have a correct principles and plans.”

Lai said just because China had helped Vietnam during wartime in the past does not mean that their wrong actions should be ignored.

“We should be even-handed. Now that they are violating our national sovereignty, we have to object to such actions and have an accurate assessment,” he pressed.

“The people will not agree if we assess the situation wrongly.”

The outgoing lawmaker ended his speech by expressing the wish that the new National Assembly will pay more attention to the sovereignty issue.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!