Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh has reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s readiness to launch necessary measures to protect fishermen’s normal activities in traditional fishing grounds at a regular Foreign Ministry press briefing in Hanoi on September 25.

On September 24, China’s Maritime Safety Administration announced that China would conduct a large-scale live ammunition drill in southern Hainan island near Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracels) archipelago.

Responding to reporter's question about how the drill will affect Vietnamese fishermen’s fishing activities in traditional fishing grounds and what measures Vietnam will take to protect fishermen, Binh said,  “As soon as getting this information from China’s Maritime Safety Administration, Vietnamese competent agencies verified the information and carried out fishermen protection measures.”

Regarding a media question about Vietnam’s reaction before China’s recent operations aiming to renovate and change the current status of reefs in the (Truong Sa) Spratly Islands belonging to Vietnam's sovereignty, including the Johnson South Reef (Gac Ma in Vietnamese) into artificial islands, contrary to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the Vietnamese diplomat said, "All activities of concerned parities in the East Sea should respect the sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction of the countries concerned, comply with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)  as well as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) without having any action that further complicates the situation."

"We believe that, in the current situation, all parties need to be responsible for maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea," Binh added.

VOV/VNN