Vietnam has informed the parliaments of several countries of China’s violation of the Southeast Asian country’s maritime sovereignty by illegally placing an oil rig in Vietnamese waters in the East Sea since early this month.

Tran Van Hang, chairman of the External Relations Committee of the Vietnamese National Assembly, on Friday sent a letter to the parliaments of a number of countries to notify them of the Chinese infringement.  

In his note, Hang underscored that peace, stability, security, maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the East Sea are being seriously threatened, so he called on leaders and members of the parliaments to support Vietnam in finding a necessary solution to the current situation in the sea as well as to raise their voices to protect justice and peace.

China has positioned drilling platform Haiyang Shiyou 981 in Vietnam’s waters since May 1 despite strong opposition from Hanoi. 

On Friday, Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations, also sent a diplomatic note protesting China’s infringement of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea to the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon.

The diplomatic note, issued by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also addressed to its Chinese counterpart, expressing the Vietnamese objection to Beijing’s act to maintain its oil rig and escort vessels inside the Southeast Asian country’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

This is the third diplomatic note that Vietnam has dispatched to the UN so far. Like in the two previous documents, Ambassador Trung suggested that UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon keep the diplomatic note as an official document of the 68th UN General Assembly and send it to all member countries of the international organization.  

In other news, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai told an event in northern Hai Phong City on Saturday that Vietnam has a desire for peace and friendship but it must be based on ensuring independence and sovereignty. “We will never barter sovereignty for anything and will not accept any form of threat or imposition,” Hai told the press. 

The deputy prime minister has also asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to work with relevant authorities to build up strong surveillance forces to contribute to the protection of national sovereignty, local fishermen and marine economic resources as well as to protect foreign organizations that legally travel or carry out operations in Vietnam’s waters.

Over the past month, China has deployed hundreds of ships, including warships, and military jets to the rig’s location to ram, intimidate, and fire water cannons at Vietnam’s marine law enforcement vessels and fishing boats. Such attacks have injured many law enforcement officers of Vietnam and damaged a dozen Vietnamese ships. Notably, on May 26, Chinese vessel #11209 rammed and sank Vietnamese fishing boat DNa 90152 with 10 crew members on board when the local ship was operating within its traditional fishing ground near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago in the East Sea.

After relocating twice, the Chinese rig is now located at 15°33’22’’ North latitude and 111°34’23’’ East longitude, still in the Vietnamese waters.

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