Hanoi rejects Beijing’s unilateral fishing ban in East Vietnam Sea
The Vietnamese foreign ministry’s spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang has said Vietnam rejects China’s unilateral decision on a fishing ban in the East Vietnam Sea from May 1 to August 16.
Answering reporters’ queries about the issue on Friday, Hang reiterated that Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal evidence affirming its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes in accordance with international law.
As an East Vietnam Sea coastal country and a member of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Vietnam has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over its waters as defined in the UNCLOS and enjoys other legitimate interests at sea in line with the UNCLOS’s regulations, she said.
Given the regional and global context at present, Vietnam asks China not to further complicate the situation in the East Vietnam Sea, she added.
Vietnam News Agency – May 8, 2020