Vietnamese scholars in US protest against China’s act in East Sea
Following China’s illegal
placement of its drilling rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and
continental shelf, Vietnamese scholars in the US said the act seriously
violates international law and applauded the measures Vietnam is taking
in response to the incident.
Dr. Ngo Nhu Binh,
Director of the Vietnamese Language Programme in the Department of East
Asian Languages and Civilisation at Harvard University expressed strong
protest against China’s act, saying that the placement of the oil rig is
more of a political move than an economic goal.
“China has a great ambition for the East Sea, and the nine-dot line is
an obvious manifestation of this expansionism. I organised a seminar on
sea and islands in January this year with many foreign experts invited
to the event. None of them recognised the nine-dot line,” Binh told New
York-based Vietnam News Agency correspondents.
The
lecturer hailed the response of the Vietnamese government to China’s
act, and said he thought now is the time for Vietnam to take the matter
to an international court. According to Binh, Vietnam should consult
international law experts about this issue and study the experience of
the Philippines.
“Once we take the matter to an international court, we must have firm legal foundation,” he said.
Lawyer Ta Van Tai, a former lecturer at Harvard Law School, noted that
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires
that concerned parties engage in talks and conciliation procedures
before taking compulsory procedures entailing binding decisions.
Therefore, bilateral and multi-lateral diplomatic talks are a must.
Tai suggested that Vietnam can also take the issue to the United
National General Assembly or the UN Security Council, saying that a
resolution adopted by the former could deter China. He said while the
matter could be vetoed by China at the UN Security Council, Vietnam
should still raise the issue because this is a necessary step when
international peace and security are under threat as they are in this
case with Chinese ships acting threateningly and using force to
intimidate Vietnamese fisheries surveillance vessels, marine police and
fishermen.
Nguyen Ba Chung, a researcher at the
William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences at
the University of Massachusetts in Boston, said he was glad Vietnam
enjoyed the world’s support over the incident.
“The
Vietnamese government’s point of view is very clear, if China does not
remove its rig, Vietnam will take other actions, and this point of view
receives support from Vietnamese worldwide,” he said.
Chung
noted that China’s act triggered a strong reaction among the overseas
Vietnamese community. Among the academic circle in the US, the general
opinion is that China’s act is unreasonable. The focus of discussion now
is what the US should do to counter China’s aggressive move in the East
Sea.
The researcher said as there is no way for
Vietnam to stop similar moves by China in the future, sooner or later
Vietnam will have to take China to an international court.
He added that China might not appear in court because they know they
would lose, but he said at least the world would very clearly see that
China is in the wrong, making it difficult for China to continue using
its power to bully other countries in the East Sea.-VNA