Vietnam’s patience and goodwill to peacefully solve the East Sea issue have been hailed at a talk on China’s illegal placement of its Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters.

Held in the central city of Da Nang on June 21, the event formed part of an international conference themed “Hoang Sa-Truong Sa: historical truth” there.

Many participants said it’s time for Vietnam to take legal measures to deal with maritime disputes in the East Sea.

They stressed that legal measures are prescribed as a peaceful solution in the United Nations Charter and international law and they conform to Vietnam’s guidelines relating the settlement of disputes in the East Sea.

Domestic and foreign scholars agreed that over the past month, China has illegally positioned its rig in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam together with deploying hundreds of different vessels, including military ones, to illegally operate in the waters.

They affirmed the rig’s illegal placement broke the status quo in the East Sea, threatening peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in the area where a half of the world’s cargo volume are crossing through.

In addition, Chinese ships aggressively disrupted, intentionally rammed and fired cannon water at Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries administration vessels performing their mission in the waters belonging to Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction, they noted.

They condemned Chinese ship for deliberately sinking Vietnamese fishing boat DN 90152 with 10 fishermen on board on May 26 when they were operating normal fishing activities in Vietnam’s waters.

The international community, including countries and organisations, raised their strong voice against China’s provocative actions defying international law.

Later the same day, participants came to view the seriously damaged fishing boat DN 90152.-VNA