Cuong put forward his view in an interview granted to CNN, condemning China’s illegal placement of its floating oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
He said China’s move is a serious violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty, international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
“We have no other way but to respond peacefully but resolutely,” he told Christiane Amanpour who hosted the show.
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Cuong refuted Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai’s earlier statement that China has the only oil rig while Vietnam has developed more than 30 in the region.
China is creating facts on the ground, he said, adding China is trying to turn [an] undisputed area into a disputed area, and that is unacceptable.
According to the diplomat, Vietnam has carried out oil & gas exploration and exploitation in its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf for decades. Many foreign oil companies have joined these projects. Meanwhile, China invited international bids for oil projects in Vietnam’s waters in 2012, but received no response.
During the interview, Amanpour expressed concern about China’s oil rig placement and especially its recent sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat. She said China is flexing its muscle in territorial disputes with not only Vietnam, but also Japan and the Philippines.
She quoted former Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in an article published on the Washington Post in 2010 when he told his Singaporean counterpart that “China is a big country and other countries are small countries, and that's just a fact.”
“It’s [an] unjustifiable argument,” stressed ambassador Cuong.
“We cannot accept the coercion; we cannot accept threats. And when the issue of sovereignty and national integrity is concerned, the Vietnamese people are very determined to defend our sovereignty rights.”
“No country should underestimate the Vietnamese people’s determination to defend our sovereignty and sovereign rights.”
