ASEAN Foreign Ministers voice deep concern over China’s drilling rig

It is part of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ joint statement released during their meeting in Myanmar on Saturday after China has deployed as many as 80 ships, including seven military ones, and even aircraft to the area where the drilling rig HD-981 was installed illegally in Viet Nam’s continental shelf.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers asked relevant parties to exercise restraint, avoid acts of damaging peace and stability in the region, and settle divergences through peaceful measures on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

They affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea as well as the ASEAN’s Six-point principles on the East Sea and the Joint Statement of the 15^th ASEAN-China Summit on the occasion of the 10^th anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

They also called on all relevant parties to the DOC to fully and effectively implement the DOC in order to create a trusted environment and build trust. ASEAN Foreign Ministers stressed the necessity of early conclusion of a more-binding Code of Conduct (COC)./.

By Huong Giang