VN sincerely wishes for peace

Viet Nam has endured untold suffering and losses from past invasive wars. Therefore, it is always our earnest desire to have peace and friendship for national development. We are never the first to use military means and would never unilaterally start a military confrontation unless we are forced to take self-defense actions, PM Nguyen Tan Dung told Associate Press during his tour to the Philippines recently.

He once said at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore in 2013: To have a genuine and lasting peace, the independence and sovereignty of any country, whether large or small, must be respected; and differences in interests, culture, etc. must be subject to open and constructive dialogues of mutual understanding and mutual respect.

That is why Viet Nam consistently persists with the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification of external relations, being a friend and reliable partner to all nations, and a responsible member of the international community.

However, since May 1^st 2014, China brazenly moved its deep-water drilling rig escorted by over 80 armed and military vessels and many airplanes to the Vietnamese waters and installed the rig at the location which is 80 miles deep into the Vietnamese continental shelf and exclusive economic zone prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

He told the newswire that there is a vast gap between the words and deeds of China. What China has been doing in the maritime zones of Viet Nam in the past days is extremely dangerous, seriously threatening peace, stability, maritime security and safety, freedom of navigation, and cooperation and development in the region and the world.

The Government chief affirmed that Viet Nam always sincerely wants to work with China to settle disputes via peaceful means on the basis of the international law, equality and mutual respect.

PM Dung expressed his belief that the international community assess the situation correctly and continue to speak out accordingly in order to prevent this serious threat to peace and stability in the East Sea.

He called on the international community, countries, individuals and international organizations to continue expressing strong protests against such acts of violation of international law by China./.

By Huong Giang