VietNamNet Bridge - On Thursday, Chinese ships continued to impede the operation of Vietnamese vessels on duty in Vietnam’s waters, in which China is illegally building an oil rig, the Coast Guard Command reports.

 A ship of the Vietnam Marine Police Agency was damaged after the ramming of Chinese vessels. The ship is being repaired in Da Nang.

Colonel Ngo Ngoc Thu, Deputy Commander - Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Marine Police Agency, told Tuoi Tre Daily that on Thursday evening, China maintained a number of ships and aircraft in the area where it is building an illegal oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Chinese ships continued to intentionally collide with Vietnamese ships and prevent them from their duty to defend Vietnam’s sovereignty. Seven Vietnamese sailors have been injured.

Also on May 8, the Vietnam Marine Police Agency detected two patrol boats and a rocket escort ship of China in the area around the HD 981 oil rig. These ships hampered the operation of a vessel of the agency in Vietnam’s waters.

Admiral Ngo Sy Quyet, Commander of the Navy Region 3, stationed in the port of Da Nang, told HCM City Law Newspaper that the damaged vessels are being repaired, and other ships have been dispatched to continue the struggle to force Chinese ships and the oil rig to withdraw from Vietnam’s territorial waters.

According to the police agency, approximately 40 Chinese ships were protecting the oil rig on May 2-3. But by May 7, China had mobilized 80 ships and had many aircraft operating in the area.

Events leading to the current skirmish began on May 1, when the oil rig and three oil service ships moved from the Northwest Tri Ton Island of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa archipelago to the south. On May 2, the oil rig was anchored at southern Tri Ton island, 80 nautical miles into the continental shelf of Vietnam, and only 119 nautical miles from Ly Son Island and 130 nautical miles off the mainland coast of Vietnam.

According to the Chinese Marine Affairs Department, it set the oil rig for "continental shelf drilling" and prohibited the operation of ships within a radius of 3 nautical miles from the rig.

At an international conference held in Hanoi on May 7, Vietnam confirmed that the Chinese oil rig and ships were operating well within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. China's actions are a serious violation of Vietnam’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction under the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. China is also violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea in 2002 and other related agreements between the two countries, as well as the agreement on basic principles guiding settlement of sea issues between Vietnam and China. Vietnam demanded that China immediately withdraw the oil rig and vessels from its waters.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group also voiced strong objections to China’s acts, requesting the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to immediately cease its illegal activities and withdraw the oil rig from Vietnam's waters.

Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh spoke by telephone with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi to voice his opposition to the operation of the oil rig and Chinese vessels in the continental shelf of Vietnam. Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also met the Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to hand him a note of protest.

The U.S. and Japan have also raised their voices, asserting that China's actions are a provocation which is making the situation in the East Sea tenser.

This is considered a serious crisis in Vietnam-China relations. Many experts believe that China's move clearly shows its goal of exclusively occupying the East Sea.

Tran Cham