Columnist Tran Van recently wrote an exclusive article on the tension
in the East Sea following China’s illegal placement of its drilling rig
Haiyang Shiyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and
continental shelf. Following is a translation of his article under the
above title.
“In an article published on Matichon on June
23, Ning Fuikui, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the
Kingdom of Thailand, rightly pointed out that the world recently has
shown their deep disappointment with the wrongful acts of China such as
drilling in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of another
country and deliberately ramming until sinking the latter’s vessel
operating normally in this area. These acts not only disregard
international law, violate the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the East Sea (DOC), going against bilateral agreements reached by the
two countries’ high-ranking leaders, but also aggravate the situation in
the sea and escalate the tension in the region.
However, to
find excuses for the action of China , Ambassador Ning did not
hesitate to re-write history, fabricate facts and use twisted arguments
in order to hide the truth. So what truth is Ambassador Ning trying to
cover?
The Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago belongs to Vietnam, not China
Vietnam has sufficient historical and legal grounds to assert
its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelagoes.
Vietnam was the very first nation to occupy and then continuously
and peacefully exercise its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes.
Since at least the 17 th century, when these territories were still
terra nullius, the Nguyen Lords of Vietnam (1558-1783) had established
the Hoang Sa flotilla to administrate and exploit the archipelago. This
fleet was sent every year to the archipelago to exploit resources,
undertake geographical and geological measurements, conduct salvage
operations, and erect landmarks and other utility buildings.
China , for its part, expressed no intention to claim sovereignty
over the archipelago. In 1898, after ships Bellona and Himeji Maru had
sunk in Hoang Sa and were looted by Chinese fishermen, the Deputy
Governor of Guangdong stated that the archipelago were terra nullius
which did not belong to China and were not administratively attached to
any district of Hainan and that no authority was responsible for
policing it. On the other hand, many Chinese documents, such as
Haiwai jishi (Records of things overseas) 1696 or Hailu (Records at
sea) 1820 acknowledge that this archipelago belongs to Vietnam.
The Cairo Conference in 1943 and the Potsdam Conference in
1945, to which China was a participant, declared that the islands in the
Pacific that Japan had taken by force during World War 2 had to be
returned and the territories that Japan had to return to China were
Manju, Taiwan and Penghu only, not including Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. No
official document was written, as Ambassador Ning claimed, that in 1946
China retook the Hoang Sa from Japan.
In particular,
at the San Francisco Conference in 1951, the request that Japan
recognise sovereignty of China over the Hoang Sa archipelago was
rejected by the conference with 46 votes against. At this conference,
head of the Vietnamese delegation, Prime Minister Tran Van Huu affirmed
Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, which met with no
protest from all the 51 participating countries.
In fact, in
1956 and 1974, China took by force the eastern half and then the
western half of Hoang Sa archipelago from the Republic of Vietnam .
This act violated the prohibition of use of force against the
territorial integrity of another state, a peremptory norm of
international law. This aggression, along with other wrongful acts of
China since the beginning, has met with strong protests from Vietnam
.
That Ambassador Ning cited a number of documents from the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam before 1974 to argue that Vietnam
recognised the sovereignty of China over this archipelago is a
twisted argument. According to the Geneva Accords of 1954, the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam was assigned to administrate the northern
half of Vietnam from the 17th parallel, which did not include the
Hoang 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 the
question of sovereignty, he failed to cover another truth. That is, by
all means, the oil rig is located in Vietnam’s exclusive economic
zone and continental shelf. I would like to invite Ambassador Ning to
read the basic documents of the law of the sea to see that both the
so-called “17-nautical-mile-water” of Triton Island and the “baseline of
the Hoang Sa Archipelago” claimed by China are against the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Therefore, China
has violated Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction by
unilaterally drilling in an area located about 60-80 nautical miles deep
inside Vietnam ’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
Vietnam has consistently and vehemently protested against all
encroachments into its waters. As Ambassador Ning rightly pointed out,
China has, on a number of occasions, intruded into this area to
conduct surveys. In response to such intrusions, Vietnam has sent law
enforcement vessels to the area to give warnings and to chase away the
Chinese vessels conducting illegal activities therein and has, at the
same time, sent Notes Verbales to China to protest. All are still
on the record.
Ambassador Ning also feels free to make
accusations without evidence. While stated that Vietnam has sent
“frogmen” into this area and Vietnamese ships have rammed Chinese ships
for a total of 1,416 times, Ambassador Ning and the government of
China could not provide any evidence to support these wrongful
statements. In the opposite, video clips provided by Vietnam and
reports from international journalists present at the scene have told a
completely different story. It is China who has used a large number
of vessels of different types, including military ships with
ready-to-deploy weapons (at times reaching up to 140), to escort the oil
rig. Chinese ships have deliberately rammed and fired water cannon at
Vietnamese vessels, causing injuries to dozens of officers, damaging
many vessels of Vietnam‘s civilian law enforcement agencies, and even
going as far as sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat.
It is
ridiculous that Ambassador Ning cited “large numbers of obstacles,
including fishing nets and floating objects” in the waters to accuse
Vietnam. They were nothing but pieces broken away from Vietnamese
ships after being violently hit by Chinese vessels which are another set
of evidence of the brutality of Chinese vessels.
All the
evidence of China ’s violent and aggressive behaviours are publicly
available for anyone who want to check them out. Thai friends could also
ask news agencies having offices in Thailand who have sent
reporters to the scene to have more information.
Fuelled by
anger towards the above-mentioned behaviours of China, Vietnamese
people had spontaneous protest demonstrations in some provinces of
Vietnam to express their patriotism. Some people took advantage of the
Vietnamese people’s patriotism to do some provoking and illegal acts,
which caused adverse effects towards some of Chinese workers and foreign
investors in Vietnam.
Vietnamese Government immediately took
resolute measures such as arresting the offenders, reinforcing security
and compensating affected enterprises. To date, the situation has been
stabilised and affected enterprises have resumed their normal
production. All the efforts of the Vietnamese Government have received
appraisals from foreign investors. However, Ambassador Ning has
unfailingly accused the Vietnamese Government and deliberately distorted
the fact. Instead of rushing into blaming the Vietnamese Government, it
is wondered that Ambassador Ning should have asked himself what the
Chinese government had done for Japanese investors who were also
affected by the anti-Japan riots in China two years ago.
China is ignoring Vietnam’s goodwill to settle the
current situation through dialogue and other peaceful means
Since the beginning of the operation of Hayang Shiyou 981, Vietnam
has made utmost efforts to communicate and conduct dialogue with China
to demand it to immediately stop all violations of Vietnam’s
sovereign right and jurisdiction, and to substantially negotiate to
resolve the issues at sea between the two countries. Vietnam has
conducted more than 30 diplomatic communications with relevant Chinese
authorities. The latest was the invitation to State Councillor of China
Yang Jiechi to Hanoi by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
of Vietnam Pham Binh Minh to exchange views on this matter. But China
has, to date, stubbornly refused to withdraw the oil rig and to start
negotiations to bring the situation back to normal.
Agreeing
to the idiom about keeping promises quoted by Ambassador Ning, I
strongly 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 to
resolve the disagreement between Vietnam and China over the Hoang Sa
through friendly negotiations, as well as honouring all other relevant
bilateral 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 the
East Sea
Vietnam has proved to be a strong supporter of
international law, peace, stability and development in the Gulf of
Thailand and the East Sea with its concrete deeds. In 1997,
Vietnam and Thailand successfully signed the maritime boundary
delimitation agreement on the Gulf of Thailand, the first maritime
boundary agreement in Southeast Asia after the coming into force of the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the first maritime
boundary agreement on the Gulf of Thailand . Vietnamese and Thai
governments also undertook concrete cooperative activities in the
insurance of maritime security and protection of marine living resources
in this area as well as carried out join patrols.
Besides, Vietnam has successfully signed maritime boundary
delimitation agreements with many other countries in the Gulf of
Thailand and the East Sea including with China on the Gulf of
Tonkin in 2000, which was the first maritime boundary agreement ever
signed by China. Vietnam has also been undertaking many important
bilateral and multilateral cooperative initiatives in the East Sea in
different sectors such as marine scientific research, management and
conservation of natural resources, exploration and exploitation of
mineral resources (such as the negotiations between Vietnam, Thailand
and Malaysia for joint development in the Gulf of Thailand). In
particular, just before the unilateral drilling of China , Vietnam
and China agreed to set up a group to discuss joint development at
sea.
Continuing this policy of supporting international
law, peace, stability and development in the region, Vietnam will
resolutely use all peaceful means allowed by international law to
safeguard its legitimate rights and interests. Vietnam hopes
that governments and peoples from all around the world, including the
government and people of Thailand, will continue to stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Vietnam in these goodwill
efforts.
Since Ambassador Ning seems to have a
particular sense for quotations. I would like to end this note by
quoting an ancient Chinese proverb: “Look inside you before blaming
others.” Ambassador Ning should look into China ’s own behaviours to
see why the country has been criticised by public opinion instead of
groundlessly blaming others”.-VNA