Japan to increase engagement in East Sea
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The Spokesperson emphasised Vietnam’s consistent stance that all activities of concerned parties should actively and constructively contribute to peace, stability and cooperation in the East Sea – which provides a bloodline sea route of the region and the world. Vietnam hopes that all countries will make active contributions to maintaining peace and stability, and ensuring maritime and aviation security and safety in the sea as well as Asia-Pacific, he noted.
Asked about Vietnam’s reaction to Chinese Taiwan’s discreet construction of several facilities on Ba Binh island of Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago to serve its military purposes, Binh said competent Vietnamese agencies are verifying the information. “Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed its sovereignty over Truong Sa archipelago. Therefore, Taiwan’s occupation and operations in the area are illegal and seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty. And Vietnam vehemently opposes such actions,” he said.
Vietnam hopes that all countries would contribute to peace, stability, ensuring security and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea as well as in the Asia-Pacific region”. The East Sea is the main maritime route in the region and the world and that Vietnam aims to settle all international disputes through peaceful means, the official added.
Responding to a German reporter’s question on the TPP agreement, Binh said Vietnam placed high priority on accelerating the fine-tuning of legal institutions and the revisions of legal documents to ensure the full and effective implementation of its commitments to the TPP agreement.
In a speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada stated that Japan will increase its engagement in the East Sea as part of efforts to maintain a rules-based maritime order in East Sea.
The minister also criticised Beijing’s construction and militarisation of islands in the East Sea, and its rejection of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)’s recent ruling on the East Sea issue, which invalidated China’s sovereignty claims in the sea. “These Chinese actions constitute a deliberate attempt to unilaterally change the status quo and undermine the prevailing norms,” she said.
Inada also referred to repeated intrusions by Chinese law enforcement ships into Japanese waters around the disputed islands in the East China Sea, which is known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Senkaku Islands in Japan. The two sides also committed to contributing to maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea.
Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Le Hai Binh has stated that every activity of parties must positively and constructively contribute to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea. The Spokesman stressed that the East Sea is the life-line for the region and the world, thus countries inside and outside the region all enjoy benefits and have responsibilities to safeguard peace and stability in the East Sea.
For the recent drills jointly conducted by China and Russia, Mr. Binh said that as a coastal country and a signatory of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Viet Nam believes that all activities, including military ones in the East Sea must comply with international law, especially the UNCLOS. Vietnam expects that all countries should make positive contributions to maintain peace and stability, ensure security and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.
