“Once again, Vietnam demands that China stop its construction and expansion on reef islands under Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Vietnam Sea,” Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Hai Binh said in Hanoi on Friday.

>> Vietnam opposes China’s construction work in Truong Sa (Spratlys) He made the request in reply to reporters’ questions on Vietnam’s response to many statements by China that Vietnam has made large-scale encroachments and expansions on reef islands, which, it said, are being “occupied” by Vietnam in the East Vietnam Sea. Binh stressed that such construction and expansion on reef islands by China has seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Vietnam Sea and caused deep concerns in the international community, including ASEAN.

China must immediately end these activities and strictly comply with international law, especially 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), and avoid actions that can complicate and extend disputes in the sea, Binh said. “Vietnam has sufficient legal and historical evidence to affirm its sovereignty, sovereignty rights and jurisdiction in the East Vietnam Sea in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” the spokesperson said. Regarding reports that the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) recently sent diplomatic notes to other countries’ permanent missions asserting its sovereignty and relevant claims on the East Vietnam Sea and describing its construction on reef islands as rightful and legitimate, Binh affirmed that “these points of view are inaccurate and have no legal, historical and factual grounds.”

Binh also revealed that on April 30 the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN sent diplomatic notes to all countries’ permanent missions to the UN to reject the above points of view of China, he added.

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