Columnist Tran Van recently wrote an exclusive article on the tensionin the East Sea following China’s illegal placement of its drilling rigHaiyang Shiyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone andcontinental shelf. Following is a translation of his article under theabove title.
“In an article published on Matichon on June23, Ning Fuikui, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to theKingdom of Thailand, rightly pointed out that the world recently hasshown their deep disappointment with the wrongful acts of China such asdrilling in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of anothercountry and deliberately ramming until sinking the latter’s vesseloperating normally in this area. These acts not only disregardinternational law, violate the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties inthe East Sea (DOC), going against bilateral agreements reached by thetwo countries’ high-ranking leaders, but also aggravate the situation inthe sea and escalate the tension in the region.
However, tofind excuses for the action of China , Ambassador Ning did nothesitate to re-write history, fabricate facts and use twisted argumentsin order to hide the truth. So what truth is Ambassador Ning trying tocover?
The Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago belongs to Vietnam, not China
Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal grounds to assertits sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelagoes.Vietnam was the very first nation to occupy and then continuouslyand peacefully exercise its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes.Since at least the 17 th century, when these territories were stillterra nullius, the Nguyen Lords of Vietnam (1558-1783) had establishedthe Hoang Sa flotilla to administrate and exploit the archipelago. Thisfleet was sent every year to the archipelago to exploit resources,undertake geographical and geological measurements, conduct salvageoperations, and erect landmarks and other utility buildings.
China , for its part, expressed no intention to claim sovereigntyover the archipelago. In 1898, after ships Bellona and Himeji Maru hadsunk in Hoang Sa and were looted by Chinese fishermen, the DeputyGovernor of Guangdong stated that the archipelago were terra nulliuswhich did not belong to China and were not administratively attached toany district of Hainan and that no authority was responsible forpolicing it. On the other hand, many Chinese documents, such asHaiwai jishi (Records of things overseas) 1696 or Hailu (Records atsea) 1820 acknowledge that this archipelago belongs to Vietnam.
The Cairo Conference in 1943 and the Potsdam Conference in1945, to which China was a participant, declared that the islands in thePacific that Japan had taken by force during World War 2 had to bereturned and the territories that Japan had to return to China wereManju, Taiwan and Penghu only, not including Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. Noofficial document was written, as Ambassador Ning claimed, that in 1946China retook the Hoang Sa from Japan.
In particular,at the San Francisco Conference in 1951, the request that Japanrecognise sovereignty of China over the Hoang Sa archipelago wasrejected by the conference with 46 votes against. At this conference,head of the Vietnamese delegation, Prime Minister Tran Van Huu affirmedVietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, which met with noprotest from all the 51 participating countries.
In fact, in1956 and 1974, China took by force the eastern half and then thewestern half of Hoang Sa archipelago from the Republic of Vietnam .This act violated the prohibition of use of force against theterritorial integrity of another state, a peremptory norm ofinternational law. This aggression, along with other wrongful acts ofChina since the beginning, has met with strong protests from Vietnam.
That Ambassador Ning cited a number of documents from theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam before 1974 to argue that Vietnamrecognised the sovereignty of China over this archipelago is atwisted argument. According to the Geneva Accords of 1954, theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam was assigned to administrate the northernhalf of Vietnam from the 17th parallel, which did not include theHoang Sa archipelago. China must be well aware of this matter.
China is violating Vietnam ’s sovereign right and jurisdiction
Although Ambassador Ning had misled the public opinion on thequestion of sovereignty, he failed to cover another truth. That is, byall means, the oil rig is located in Vietnam’s exclusive economiczone and continental shelf. I would like to invite Ambassador Ning toread the basic documents of the law of the sea to see that both theso-called “17-nautical-mile-water” of Triton Island and the “baseline ofthe Hoang Sa Archipelago” claimed by China are against the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Therefore, Chinahas violated Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction byunilaterally drilling in an area located about 60-80 nautical miles deepinside Vietnam ’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.Vietnam has consistently and vehemently protested against allencroachments into its waters. As Ambassador Ning rightly pointed out,China has, on a number of occasions, intruded into this area toconduct surveys. In response to such intrusions, Vietnam has sent lawenforcement vessels to the area to give warnings and to chase away theChinese vessels conducting illegal activities therein and has, at thesame time, sent Notes Verbales to China to protest. All are stillon the record.
Ambassador Ning also feels free to makeaccusations without evidence. While stated that Vietnam has sent“frogmen” into this area and Vietnamese ships have rammed Chinese shipsfor a total of 1,416 times, Ambassador Ning and the government ofChina could not provide any evidence to support these wrongfulstatements. In the opposite, video clips provided by Vietnam andreports from international journalists present at the scene have told acompletely different story. It is China who has used a large numberof vessels of different types, including military ships withready-to-deploy weapons (at times reaching up to 140), to escort the oilrig. Chinese ships have deliberately rammed and fired water cannon atVietnamese vessels, causing injuries to dozens of officers, damagingmany vessels of Vietnam‘s civilian law enforcement agencies, and evengoing as far as sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat.
It isridiculous that Ambassador Ning cited “large numbers of obstacles,including fishing nets and floating objects” in the waters to accuseVietnam. They were nothing but pieces broken away from Vietnameseships after being violently hit by Chinese vessels which are another setof evidence of the brutality of Chinese vessels.
All theevidence of China ’s violent and aggressive behaviours are publiclyavailable for anyone who want to check them out. Thai friends could alsoask news agencies having offices in Thailand who have sentreporters to the scene to have more information.
Fuelled byanger towards the above-mentioned behaviours of China, Vietnamesepeople had spontaneous protest demonstrations in some provinces ofVietnam to express their patriotism. Some people took advantage of theVietnamese people’s patriotism to do some provoking and illegal acts,which caused adverse effects towards some of Chinese workers and foreigninvestors in Vietnam.
Vietnamese Government immediately tookresolute measures such as arresting the offenders, reinforcing securityand compensating affected enterprises. To date, the situation has beenstabilised and affected enterprises have resumed their normalproduction. All the efforts of the Vietnamese Government have receivedappraisals from foreign investors. However, Ambassador Ning hasunfailingly accused the Vietnamese Government and deliberately distortedthe fact. Instead of rushing into blaming the Vietnamese Government, itis wondered that Ambassador Ning should have asked himself what theChinese government had done for Japanese investors who were alsoaffected by the anti-Japan riots in China two years ago.
China is ignoring Vietnam’s goodwill to settle thecurrent situation through dialogue and other peaceful means
Since the beginning of the operation of Hayang Shiyou 981, Vietnamhas made utmost efforts to communicate and conduct dialogue with Chinato demand it to immediately stop all violations of Vietnam’ssovereign right and jurisdiction, and to substantially negotiate toresolve the issues at sea between the two countries. Vietnam hasconducted more than 30 diplomatic communications with relevant Chineseauthorities. The latest was the invitation to State Councillor of ChinaYang Jiechi to Hanoi by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Ministerof Vietnam Pham Binh Minh to exchange views on this matter. But Chinahas, to date, stubbornly refused to withdraw the oil rig and to startnegotiations to bring the situation back to normal.
Agreeingto the idiom about keeping promises quoted by Ambassador Ning, Istrongly urge the Chinese government to honour the promise made by Mr.Deng Xiaoping, the then Deputy Prime Minister of China, to Mr. Le Duan,the then First Secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam, in 1975 toresolve the disagreement between Vietnam and China over the Hoang Sathrough friendly negotiations, as well as honouring all other relevantbilateral agreements between the two countries.
Vietnam has actively supported the respect of international law,peace, stability and development in both the Gulf of Thailand and theEast Sea
Vietnam has proved to be a strong supporter ofinternational law, peace, stability and development in the Gulf ofThailand and the East Sea with its concrete deeds. In 1997,Vietnam and Thailand successfully signed the maritime boundarydelimitation agreement on the Gulf of Thailand, the first maritimeboundary agreement in Southeast Asia after the coming into force of theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the first maritimeboundary agreement on the Gulf of Thailand . Vietnamese and Thaigovernments also undertook concrete cooperative activities in theinsurance of maritime security and protection of marine living resourcesin this area as well as carried out join patrols.
Besides, Vietnam has successfully signed maritime boundarydelimitation agreements with many other countries in the Gulf ofThailand and the East Sea including with China on the Gulf ofTonkin in 2000, which was the first maritime boundary agreement eversigned by China. Vietnam has also been undertaking many importantbilateral and multilateral cooperative initiatives in the East Sea indifferent sectors such as marine scientific research, management andconservation of natural resources, exploration and exploitation ofmineral resources (such as the negotiations between Vietnam, Thailandand Malaysia for joint development in the Gulf of Thailand). Inparticular, just before the unilateral drilling of China , Vietnamand China agreed to set up a group to discuss joint development atsea.
Continuing this policy of supporting internationallaw, peace, stability and development in the region, Vietnam willresolutely use all peaceful means allowed by international law tosafeguard its legitimate rights and interests. Vietnam hopesthat governments and peoples from all around the world, including thegovernment and people of Thailand, will continue to standshoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Vietnam in these goodwillefforts.
Since Ambassador Ning seems to have aparticular sense for quotations. I would like to end this note byquoting an ancient Chinese proverb: “Look inside you before blamingothers.” Ambassador Ning should look into China ’s own behaviours tosee why the country has been criticised by public opinion instead ofgroundlessly blaming others”.-VNA
“In an article published on Matichon on June23, Ning Fuikui, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to theKingdom of Thailand, rightly pointed out that the world recently hasshown their deep disappointment with the wrongful acts of China such asdrilling in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of anothercountry and deliberately ramming until sinking the latter’s vesseloperating normally in this area. These acts not only disregardinternational law, violate the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties inthe East Sea (DOC), going against bilateral agreements reached by thetwo countries’ high-ranking leaders, but also aggravate the situation inthe sea and escalate the tension in the region.
However, tofind excuses for the action of China , Ambassador Ning did nothesitate to re-write history, fabricate facts and use twisted argumentsin order to hide the truth. So what truth is Ambassador Ning trying tocover?
The Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago belongs to Vietnam, not China
Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal grounds to assertits sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelagoes.Vietnam was the very first nation to occupy and then continuouslyand peacefully exercise its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes.Since at least the 17 th century, when these territories were stillterra nullius, the Nguyen Lords of Vietnam (1558-1783) had establishedthe Hoang Sa flotilla to administrate and exploit the archipelago. Thisfleet was sent every year to the archipelago to exploit resources,undertake geographical and geological measurements, conduct salvageoperations, and erect landmarks and other utility buildings.
China , for its part, expressed no intention to claim sovereigntyover the archipelago. In 1898, after ships Bellona and Himeji Maru hadsunk in Hoang Sa and were looted by Chinese fishermen, the DeputyGovernor of Guangdong stated that the archipelago were terra nulliuswhich did not belong to China and were not administratively attached toany district of Hainan and that no authority was responsible forpolicing it. On the other hand, many Chinese documents, such asHaiwai jishi (Records of things overseas) 1696 or Hailu (Records atsea) 1820 acknowledge that this archipelago belongs to Vietnam.
The Cairo Conference in 1943 and the Potsdam Conference in1945, to which China was a participant, declared that the islands in thePacific that Japan had taken by force during World War 2 had to bereturned and the territories that Japan had to return to China wereManju, Taiwan and Penghu only, not including Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. Noofficial document was written, as Ambassador Ning claimed, that in 1946China retook the Hoang Sa from Japan.
In particular,at the San Francisco Conference in 1951, the request that Japanrecognise sovereignty of China over the Hoang Sa archipelago wasrejected by the conference with 46 votes against. At this conference,head of the Vietnamese delegation, Prime Minister Tran Van Huu affirmedVietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, which met with noprotest from all the 51 participating countries.
In fact, in1956 and 1974, China took by force the eastern half and then thewestern half of Hoang Sa archipelago from the Republic of Vietnam .This act violated the prohibition of use of force against theterritorial integrity of another state, a peremptory norm ofinternational law. This aggression, along with other wrongful acts ofChina since the beginning, has met with strong protests from Vietnam.
That Ambassador Ning cited a number of documents from theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam before 1974 to argue that Vietnamrecognised the sovereignty of China over this archipelago is atwisted argument. According to the Geneva Accords of 1954, theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam was assigned to administrate the northernhalf of Vietnam from the 17th parallel, which did not include theHoang Sa archipelago. China must be well aware of this matter.
China is violating Vietnam ’s sovereign right and jurisdiction
Although Ambassador Ning had misled the public opinion on thequestion of sovereignty, he failed to cover another truth. That is, byall means, the oil rig is located in Vietnam’s exclusive economiczone and continental shelf. I would like to invite Ambassador Ning toread the basic documents of the law of the sea to see that both theso-called “17-nautical-mile-water” of Triton Island and the “baseline ofthe Hoang Sa Archipelago” claimed by China are against the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Therefore, Chinahas violated Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction byunilaterally drilling in an area located about 60-80 nautical miles deepinside Vietnam ’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.Vietnam has consistently and vehemently protested against allencroachments into its waters. As Ambassador Ning rightly pointed out,China has, on a number of occasions, intruded into this area toconduct surveys. In response to such intrusions, Vietnam has sent lawenforcement vessels to the area to give warnings and to chase away theChinese vessels conducting illegal activities therein and has, at thesame time, sent Notes Verbales to China to protest. All are stillon the record.
Ambassador Ning also feels free to makeaccusations without evidence. While stated that Vietnam has sent“frogmen” into this area and Vietnamese ships have rammed Chinese shipsfor a total of 1,416 times, Ambassador Ning and the government ofChina could not provide any evidence to support these wrongfulstatements. In the opposite, video clips provided by Vietnam andreports from international journalists present at the scene have told acompletely different story. It is China who has used a large numberof vessels of different types, including military ships withready-to-deploy weapons (at times reaching up to 140), to escort the oilrig. Chinese ships have deliberately rammed and fired water cannon atVietnamese vessels, causing injuries to dozens of officers, damagingmany vessels of Vietnam‘s civilian law enforcement agencies, and evengoing as far as sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat.
It isridiculous that Ambassador Ning cited “large numbers of obstacles,including fishing nets and floating objects” in the waters to accuseVietnam. They were nothing but pieces broken away from Vietnameseships after being violently hit by Chinese vessels which are another setof evidence of the brutality of Chinese vessels.
All theevidence of China ’s violent and aggressive behaviours are publiclyavailable for anyone who want to check them out. Thai friends could alsoask news agencies having offices in Thailand who have sentreporters to the scene to have more information.
Fuelled byanger towards the above-mentioned behaviours of China, Vietnamesepeople had spontaneous protest demonstrations in some provinces ofVietnam to express their patriotism. Some people took advantage of theVietnamese people’s patriotism to do some provoking and illegal acts,which caused adverse effects towards some of Chinese workers and foreigninvestors in Vietnam.
Vietnamese Government immediately tookresolute measures such as arresting the offenders, reinforcing securityand compensating affected enterprises. To date, the situation has beenstabilised and affected enterprises have resumed their normalproduction. All the efforts of the Vietnamese Government have receivedappraisals from foreign investors. However, Ambassador Ning hasunfailingly accused the Vietnamese Government and deliberately distortedthe fact. Instead of rushing into blaming the Vietnamese Government, itis wondered that Ambassador Ning should have asked himself what theChinese government had done for Japanese investors who were alsoaffected by the anti-Japan riots in China two years ago.
China is ignoring Vietnam’s goodwill to settle thecurrent situation through dialogue and other peaceful means
Since the beginning of the operation of Hayang Shiyou 981, Vietnamhas made utmost efforts to communicate and conduct dialogue with Chinato demand it to immediately stop all violations of Vietnam’ssovereign right and jurisdiction, and to substantially negotiate toresolve the issues at sea between the two countries. Vietnam hasconducted more than 30 diplomatic communications with relevant Chineseauthorities. The latest was the invitation to State Councillor of ChinaYang Jiechi to Hanoi by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Ministerof Vietnam Pham Binh Minh to exchange views on this matter. But Chinahas, to date, stubbornly refused to withdraw the oil rig and to startnegotiations to bring the situation back to normal.
Agreeingto the idiom about keeping promises quoted by Ambassador Ning, Istrongly urge the Chinese government to honour the promise made by Mr.Deng Xiaoping, the then Deputy Prime Minister of China, to Mr. Le Duan,the then First Secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam, in 1975 toresolve the disagreement between Vietnam and China over the Hoang Sathrough friendly negotiations, as well as honouring all other relevantbilateral agreements between the two countries.
Vietnam has actively supported the respect of international law,peace, stability and development in both the Gulf of Thailand and theEast Sea
Vietnam has proved to be a strong supporter ofinternational law, peace, stability and development in the Gulf ofThailand and the East Sea with its concrete deeds. In 1997,Vietnam and Thailand successfully signed the maritime boundarydelimitation agreement on the Gulf of Thailand, the first maritimeboundary agreement in Southeast Asia after the coming into force of theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the first maritimeboundary agreement on the Gulf of Thailand . Vietnamese and Thaigovernments also undertook concrete cooperative activities in theinsurance of maritime security and protection of marine living resourcesin this area as well as carried out join patrols.
Besides, Vietnam has successfully signed maritime boundarydelimitation agreements with many other countries in the Gulf ofThailand and the East Sea including with China on the Gulf ofTonkin in 2000, which was the first maritime boundary agreement eversigned by China. Vietnam has also been undertaking many importantbilateral and multilateral cooperative initiatives in the East Sea indifferent sectors such as marine scientific research, management andconservation of natural resources, exploration and exploitation ofmineral resources (such as the negotiations between Vietnam, Thailandand Malaysia for joint development in the Gulf of Thailand). Inparticular, just before the unilateral drilling of China , Vietnamand China agreed to set up a group to discuss joint development atsea.
Continuing this policy of supporting internationallaw, peace, stability and development in the region, Vietnam willresolutely use all peaceful means allowed by international law tosafeguard its legitimate rights and interests. Vietnam hopesthat governments and peoples from all around the world, including thegovernment and people of Thailand, will continue to standshoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Vietnam in these goodwillefforts.
Since Ambassador Ning seems to have aparticular sense for quotations. I would like to end this note byquoting an ancient Chinese proverb: “Look inside you before blamingothers.” Ambassador Ning should look into China ’s own behaviours tosee why the country has been criticised by public opinion instead ofgroundlessly blaming others”.-VNA
