Vietnam continues opposing China’s illegal placement of its oil rig in the nation’s waters and calling on UNCLOS member states to do alike against Chinese unilateral acts escalating tensions in the East Sea.

Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, head of Vietnam’s permanent representative mission to the United Nations made the statement in a speech at a plenary session of the 24th meeting of States-Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in New York on June 13.

Ambassador Le Hoai Trung highlighted the status and role of UNCLOS as a "Constitution for the Oceans" and the result of the efforts made by the whole international community in building a reasonable and fair international legal order for the use, exploitation, management and sustainable development of ocean and sea.

Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, head of Vietnam’s permanent representative mission to the United Nations.

“Over the past years, Vietnam has always been a proactive and responsible member of the Convention, strictly implementing the provisions of the Convention and making efforts to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea– territorial waters are of great importance for not only for the economic development of the coastal states but also for transport and trade activities with countries outside the region.” Trung said.

The Vietnamese diplomat also briefed the participants on China’s wrongful acts with its deployment of the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 escorted by a large number of military vessels and aircraft. In addition, Chinese ships have fired water cannons at Vietnamese civilian vessels and even sunk one Vietnamese fishing vessel when it is conducting normal fishing activities in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Ambassador Trung stressed, "Vietnam has had more than 30 meetings at all levels and through various dialogues to ask China to immediately withdraw its drilling rig and escort vessels in order to create a favourable environment for dialogues. Till now, China has not responded positively to the request of Vietnam as well as the call from the international community but continued with its misconduct.”

Vietnam again demanded China immediately remove the Haiyang Shiyou-981 and escort vehicles out of the country’s waters and resolve the dispute through negotiations or peaceful measures in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS."

Also in his speech, Trung hailed the due attention given by the international community to the current tensions in the East Sea, and called on the international community, including UNCLOS member states to condemn   China‘s unilateral acts and support peaceful settlement of disputes without using force or threatening to use force.

During the discussion, the Vietnamese delegation again affirmed Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Spratly) illegality of the Hiag Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf while rejecting China’s fallacious views and distorted information at the conference.

At the conference, many countries, including Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia also expressed concern about the complicated developments in the East Sea and called concerned parties to refrain from threatening to use force and settle disputes peacefully in accordance with international law and UNCLOS.

They also underlined the need to abide by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and accelerate the early conclusion of negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The 24th UNCLOS Conference took place from June 9-13 at the UN headquarters in New York, attended by 159 out of 166 convention member countries.

The meeting considered and adopted a report on the 2013 activities of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) -three bodies established based on provisions of the Convention.

Member states also elected seven ITLOS judges for 2014- 2021 term and one CLCS member.