Philippines protests China’s fishing ban in East Sea

Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has filed a diplomatic protest against China’s unilateral imposition of a fishing moratorium in the East Sea (known in the Philippines as the West Philippine Sea and internationally as the South China Sea).

“In a diplomatic note dated May 30, the DFA conveyed its protest to the moratorium, which covers areas in the West Philippine Sea over which the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction,” the department said in a statement released on May 30.

On April 29, replying to reporters’ question about China’s three-month fishing ban, Spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang stated that Vietnam’s stance on China’s fishing ban in the East Sea is consistent and has been asserted clearly over the past years.

Accordingly, part of this ban’s scope has violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, as well as the country’s sovereign right and jurisdiction identified in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the agreement on the delimitation of the Gulf of Tonkin signed by the two countries in 2000.

Vietnam demands China respect Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa archipelago, sovereign right, and jurisdiction over Vietnam’s sea areas when implementing measures for conserving fisheries resources in the East Sea; not complicate the situation; and contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability, and order in the East Sea, Hang added./.