Vietnam has strongly protested China for sovereignty violation as the latter has recently dispatched a navy hospital ship to Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago that belongs to the former in the East Vietnam Sea.

Doan Khac Viet, deputy spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the objection on Thursday in response to a query from Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper regarding China’s dispatch of the Youai hospital ship to Hoang Sa, which is under Vietnam’s sovereignty.

Vietnam resolutely opposes any activities infringing upon Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa, Viet emphasized.

The information about the operation of the vessel at Hoang Sa was revealed by the China Central Television (CCTV) on May 21.

The ship, under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, is around 100m long and has a helipad.

It has conducted a voyage of 600 nautical miles for seven days to entities of the archipelago, where health workers provided medical check-ups and psychological consultancy for Chinese soldiers illegally stationed there.

As part of its journey, the hospital ship also conducted a series of training including transiting the injured under emergency circumstances, providing frontline first aid, and rescuing damaged vessels, the CCTV said.

Hoang Sa belongs to Vietnam’s sovereignty but it has been illegally occupied by China by force since 1974.

Deputy spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Doan Khac Viet. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Despite Vietnam’s repeated objections, China has blatantly built and renovated many works and fortifications on many entities of the archipelago, as well as conducted other illegal activities there.

As has been reiterated many times before, Vietnam has fully historical evidence and legal basis to assert its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in the East Vietnam Sea in accordance with international law, Viet stressed.

Vietnam also has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the oceans as stipulated in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the diplomat stated. 

The deputy spokesman also replied to another query from Tuoi Tre about a new regulation issued by China on May 15 regarding the detention of foreigners suspected to violate waters that China claims sovereignty.  

Accordingly, foreigners suspected of trespassing in China’s sovereign territorial waters or maritime zones, or helping others do so, “can be detained without trial for 30 to 60 days by the Chinese coastguard,” South China Morning Post reported on Monday. 

Regarding this rule, effective June 15, Viet said that “Vietnam resolutely and persistently protects Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in maritime zones as well as the legal and legitimate interests of Vietnamese citizens, in accordance with the UNCLOS 1982 and Vietnamese laws.”

Philippine lawmakers and officials have protested the new regulation as they believe it will be enforced in the East Vietnam Sea, where China claims sovereignty over most of the waters.

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