China needs to strictly abide by the UN Charter and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in which China is a member, and relevant international laws.

The Vietnam Lawyers’ Association (VLA) has made the comment while reacting to the case happened on May 26 when three Chinese marine surveillance vessels cut surveying cables of the Binh Minh 02, a surveying ship of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) when it was conducting seismic surveys well within Vietnam ’s continental shelf.

VLA stated that this action seriously violated the UN Charter (clause 3 of Article 2, and clause 4 of Article 2) and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (clause 3 of Article 58, Article 76, clause 1 of Article 77, and Article 301) as well as Vietnam’s sovereignty rights and jurisdiction rights over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and caused economic damages for PetroVietnam.

The association also stated that the action also went against commitments China made in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed between ASEAN and China in 2002 as well as the common perception of the high-ranking leaders of Vietnam and China .

Therefore, VLA asked the Chinese side to seriously implement commitments prescribed in the DOC and not to repeat similar acts in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam as well as pay for damages caused by the three marine surveillance vessels for PetroVietnam.

The association said it always wants to boost the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries’ people and lawyers, and works together with the Chinese side to protect justice and international law, respect independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries as well as maintain peace and security in the region and the world at large./.