Vietnam demands that China withdraw its oil rig and guarding ships from Vietnamese waters and join talks to settle disputes between the two countries by peaceful measures based on international law, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said on Wednesday.

>> China towing second oil rig to East Vietnam Sea amid tensions >> Top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi visits Vietnam over oil rig >> Vietnam demands China remove oil rig from Vietnamese waters >> Vietnam recognizes sovereignty steles in Truong Sa as national relics>> Chinese ship rams, sinks Vietnamese fishing boat in Vietnam’s waters PM Dung pressed the demand at a meeting with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi in Hanoi on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation and issues related to the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling platform Beijing has illegally placed in Vietnam’s waters since May 1. China’s act has seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and the agreements between leaders of both countries, and also infringed international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea (DOC), PM Dung told the Chinese official. The illegal oil rig deployment has threatened peace, stability, security and safety of navigation and aviation in the region, the Vietnamese government leader said, adding that it has also caused discontent among Vietnamese people and negatively affected the cooperation between the two Parties and countries. PM Dung told his guest that Vietnam attaches importance to the maintenance and development of the comprehensive cooperative rapport between Vietnam and China on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The Vietnamese government leader noted that during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Vietnam last year, the two sides reached a number of specific agreements to further their cooperation. These agreements include the formation of three working groups on cooperation in infrastructure, the financial-monetary sector, and mutual development at sea in the framework of the governmental negotiation team on boundaries and territories.

High-ranking leaders of both countries also agreed that they would keep control of the situation while waiting for a basic and long-term solution to sea-related issues, PM Dung said, adding the leaders also concurred they would not take any action which could exacerbate their disputes and at the same time promptly and suitably deal with any problem able to affect the two countries’ relationship.

Meanwhile, State Councilor Yang Jiechi affirmed that the Party, government and people of China respect and have never changed their friendship with Vietnam. Yang is the top diplomat of China as he outranks Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the Chinese political system. He presented China’s stance on the current maritime rupture and agreed that the two sides will continue to maintain discussion channels and bilateral contact to solve it and strengthen the existing bilateral cooperation. He also briefed the host on the outcomes of his talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh the same day. In reply to the Chinese State Councilor’s opinion regarding the security and safety of Chinese businesses and citizens in Vietnam, PM Dung said a number of people in some localities took advantage of peaceful rallies against China’s illegal placement of the rig in the Vietnamese waters to break the Vietnamese law and cause damage to some foreign-invested enterprises, including Chinese businesses. The incidences are regrettable and undesirable, PM Dung said, adding that the Vietnamese government has decisively stopped violent acts, stabilized the situation, strictly punished the wrongdoers, and given support to the afflicted businesses. All of them have resumed normal operations, he added.

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