Vietnamese fishermen will continue operating in Vietnam’s territorial waters despite China’s illegal ban on fishing in the East Sea, a Vietnam Fisheries Association official says.

The Chief Secretariat of the Association, Nguyen Ngoc Duc, made the statement yesterday while answering Tuoi Tre’s queries on the Association’s response to China’s promulgation of the ban on fishing from 12:00 am, May 16 till 12:00 am, August 1 in the East Sea, which encompasses portions of Vietnam’s waters. Today the association will send official letters to concerned agencies asking for assistance for fishermen in their normal fishing activities in Vietnam’s territorial waters in the East Sea, Duc said. The association will also ask authorities of coastal localities to give necessary support and instructions to fishermen operating at sea, the official said. “There will be no problem if the ban is applied to China’s sea areas only, but in fact, China has illegally imposed the ban on Vietnam’s territorial waters, so there is no reason for Vietnamese fishermen to comply with such an illegitimate regulation,” Duc said.    The same day, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested against China’s implementation of a ban on fishing in the East Sea.

“China’s unilateral implementation of the ban on fishing in the East Sea in 2013, which encompasses some portions of Vietnam’s waters, violates Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, and its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi told reporters.  The ban goes against the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and “Vietnam opposes and declares China’s aforementioned unilateral decision null and void,” the spokesperson stressed. On May 9, Nghi said at the ministry’s regular press conference that Vietnam has indisputable sovereignty over Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Sea, and all activities of parties in this area without Vietnam’s approval violate the country’s sovereignty. He made the statement in response to reporters’ questions on Vietnam’s reaction to China’s deployment of 32 fishing boats to the archipelago’s area on May 6.

Nghi emphasized that, “all activities in the East Sea must comply with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), with respect to the sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction right of concerned countries.”