Vietnam claims foreign support in islands dispute
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Legal and historical evidence intended to prove Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos was presented to an international seminar in the Vietnamese central province of Quang Ngai this week.
Participants included domestic and foreign scholars and researchers from the US, Russia, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, India, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines.
Vietnam officials said the visitors supported their nation’s view that Vietnam had established and exercised its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in a peaceful and continuous manner in line with international law.
The Vietnamese hosts said China’s use of force to occupy the Hoang Sa archipelago in 1974, and several shoals on Truong Sa archipelago in 1988, were in violation of international law. They also criticised China’s claims over a line in the East Sea, saying China’s strengthened efforts were behind growing tension there.
The Vietnamese said China’s establishment of the so-called Sansha city and its development activities in the area were attempts to control the East Sea.
The participants agreed that peace, stability, maritime security, safety and freedom in the East Sea were common interests among countries in and outside the region.
The East Sea coastal nations needed to comply with international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC),and formulate a Code of Conduct in East Sea (COC).
East Sea disputes should be settled by peaceful means in line with international law and the 1982 Unclos, without the use of, or threats to use force, they said.
Tran Cong Truc, former head of Vietnam’s National Boundary Commission, claimed Vietnam was the first state to occupy and exercise its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa in a continuous manner – a fact highlighted by scholars at the seminar.
On April 28, delegates attended the annual Hoang Sa soldier feast and commemoration festival in Ly Son island district.
The event was held to pay tribute to Hoang Sa sailors “who laid down their lives for national island sovereignty”.
