Vietnamese fishing vessel operates in East Sea - Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Berlin (VNA) – Disputesin the East Sea after the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)’s ruling issued inJuly 2016 will be tabled at an international symposium to be hosted by theAsia-Africa Institute under the Hamburg University from November 24-25.
According to the organisingboard, the event will draw European experts on Asia and Southeast Asia andinternational law, scientists, and historians, including Dr. Benoit de Treglodefrom the Paris-based Military School’s Institute for Strategic Research, Prof.Dr. Stein Tonnesson from Peace Research Institute Oslo, Prof. Dr. VladimirKolotov from St. Petersburg State University, and Dr. Eva Pejsova from theEuropean Union Institute for Security Studies, along with German experts andscholars on Asia, Southeast Asia and East Sea.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Engelbert fromthe Asia-Africa Institute said that the symposium is designed to provide theinternational community as well as people in Europe and Germany with an insightinto the status quo in the East Sea.
In July last year, the PCA ruledout China’s “nine-dash line” claim and declared that there is no legal basisfor China to claim historic rights to resources within the so called nine-dashline.
However, China completelyrejected the PCA’s ruling, and maintained its stance that disputes betweencountries with overlapped sovereign claims in the East Sea need to be solvedbilaterally, Engelbert said.
In recent years, the East Seaissue has attracted much attention from the international community. AlthoughEurope and the East Sea are located over 9,000km apart, the two regions have mutualdependence in terms of economy, politics, and security.
Therefore, escalated tensions inthe East Sea may hurt Europe’s interests and threaten stability and prosperityin the world.
During the two-day event, expertsare expected to exchange opinions on current disputes in the East Sea, Europe’sexperience, and solutions to disputes.-VNA
VNA
