The France-Vietnam Friendship Association (AAFV) has denounced China’s illegal placement of a giant drilling rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

In a statement sent to the Vietnamese Embassy in France on May 13, the association expressed its deep concern about the incident.

It noted international law and principles, regulations and recommendations stated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both China and Vietnam are members.

China has violated international law to impose their own views and run against cooperative relations established between the country with ASEAN member nations, especially the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), the statement said.

It also demanded China to immediately withdraw its rig from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf and to respect commitments to compiling the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) at an earliest date.

Besides, Helene Luc, Honorary Senator and the AAFV’s Honorary President, has highlighted the solidarity between France and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the French-Vietnamese Friends’ Association, which runs humanitarian missions in remote areas in Vietnam, on May 9 cabled a notice to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations and the Vietnamese Embassy in France to speak out against China’s violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty.

The notice called for a world of peace, stability and equality on the basis of respecting international law.

It also proposed China instantly withdraw from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf and compensate Vietnam.-VNA