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China’s military drills at Paracel Islands seriously violate VN’s sovereignty

VGP – China’s military drills at Viet Nam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands seriously violated the Southeast Asian country’s sovereignty over the archipelago, said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.

August 07, 2019 6:54 PM GMT+7

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Hang made the statement on Wednesday in response to reporters’ queries regarding the Chinese military exercises near Viet Nam’s archipelago.

Earlier on Monday, Hainan Province's Maritime Safety Administration announced its plan to hold military drills near Viet Nam’s Paracel Islands on August 6-7.

Representative of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry handed over diplomatic note to the Chinese side to protest China’s aforesaid drills, Hang said.

Viet Nam has repeatedly affirmed that its has sufficient legal foundations and historical evidence proving its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos, she said.

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh had expressed grave concerns over the latest complicated developments in the East Sea, including China’s geological survey vessel group Haiyang Dizhi 8’s activities in Viet Nam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, at the 52nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and related meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.

Minh called for efforts from both sides to maintain peace and stability, well control divergences and take no actions that may complicate the situation in the East Sea during his bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the regional foreign ministerial meeting.

He urged both sides need to satisfactorily settle disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures on the basis of serious compliance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea./.

By Quang Minh