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Vietnamese journalist slashes Russian commentator’s remarks on East Vietnam Sea

Vietnamese journalist slashes Russian commentator’s remarks on East Vietnam Sea

Saturday, May 24, 2014, 08:13 GMT+7

A Vietnamese journalist has voiced his opinions against the wrong comments on the East Vietnam Sea situation in a recent article written by a Russian political commentator.

The article, whose title is translated into English as “Agreement between Moscow and Beijing is better than any declarations,” by Dmitry Kosyrev, was published on the website of Rossiya Segodnya (“Russia Today”) on May 19.

Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) used to be known as RIA-Novosti news agency.

Upon its publishing, many readers have severely criticized the piece of news for containing many wrong viewpoints related to the East Vietnam Sea situation which has become tense since China illegally placed its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou on May 1.

One of the angered readers, Nguyen Dang Phat -- a Vietnamese journalist who is the editor-in-chief of Bach Duong (White Poplar) magazine, under the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association -- has sent his comments about the Russian political commentator’s article to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China on May 20 and 21 drew the profound attention from many countries in the world including Vietnam, Phat said in his article.

The media in Russia as well as the world have run many articles on what both China and Russia described as “a historic visit,” Phat wrote.

In Dmitry Kosyrev’s article, the Russian speculated on “what angle of the Ukrainian crisis could be considered” during President Putin’s visit to China, Phat said.

“I don’t care about Dmitry Kosyrev’s viewpoints on international issues, the Russia-U.S. relations, or political developments in Ukraine,” he said.

“But I am very surprised and discontent with the fact that Dmitry Kosyrev compared Ukraine with the Philippines and Vietnam and said the role Ukraine plays in Russia's relations with the U.S. and the West as a whole is almost the same as the role the Philippines and Vietnam play in China's relations with the U.S. and the West in general.

“I am indignant at this distorting and prejudiced remark by Dmitry Kosyrev,” Phat pressed.

Dmitry Kosyrev commented that the U.S. and the West as a whole want Ukraine to “cause difficulty” to Russia and similarly, the U.S. and the West want the Philippines and Vietnam to “harass” China, Phat said.  

The Russian journalist also said many issues in the relations between Vietnam and China are the same as those in the relationship between Ukraine and Russia, according to Phat.

Most notably, Phat said, when mentioning the current dangerous and tense situation in the East Vietnam Sea, which everyone knows has been caused by China’s illegal oil rig deployment, Dmitry Kosyrev said that the rig is located “27 kilometers from the Chinese coast and 241 km from the Vietnam’s one.”

This affirmation about the location of the Chinese rig is unacceptable, Phat said.

“What can I think about such “unique” comments by the Russian journalist?” Phat wrote.

“By raising such subjective and misleading opinions, Dmitry Kosyrev seems to have a one-sided perception and has looked into the information and materials only from one side,” Phat said.

“In the beginning of his article, Dmitry Kosyrev forecast that the Ukraine issue would be a “headache” in the recent summit in Shanghai, China, but in fact, readers could have suffered headache by his subjective analysis and misleading and forced comparison.”

As previously reported by Tuoi Tre, the Chinese drilling platform is located at 15°29’58’’ North latitude and 111°12’06’’ East longitude in the East Vietnam Sea, which lies well within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted.

China has maintained the rig there since May 1 despite strong opposition from Vietnam, which has repeatedly demanded that China remove the platform and its escort ships from the Vietnamese waters immediately.

Mr. Evgeny Belov, press attaché at the Russian Embassy in Vietnam, told Tuoi Tre on May 22 that he has reported to Ambassador Andrey G. Kovtun about the article by Dmitry Kosyrev. After reading the article, the ambassador said the information and comments in the article reflect the personal viewpoints of the writer, not the official viewpoints of the Russian Government.  

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