"An extremely dangerous legal invasion"

Reporter:How does the Major General assess our current position and strength? Are there any opportunities and luck hidden in difficulties for Vietnam?

Major General Le Van Cuong:In the face of China's aggression and violation of sovereignty, we have many advantages. First of all, Vietnam's strength lies in the fact that we have the law. The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea has affirmed that coastal countries like Vietnam have a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. That is the "red book" given to us by the United Nations, that is the sacred sovereignty that we must protect. The United Nations Charter stands with us, protecting us.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is on our side. Our strength is that we have the law. The two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa are legally completely Vietnamese. Article 4 of the 1954 Geneva Agreement affirmed that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - Hanoi managed the sea and islands north of the 17th parallel. The Republic of Vietnam - Saigon protected the sea and islands south of the 17th parallel. The Geneva Agreement was drafted by China to help Vietnam, including Article 4. This Agreement was signed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with the French Republic but was accepted by the international community and the international community guaranteed the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam, including China, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, India, Poland, Canada... Legally, it is completely ours, both the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, there is only one highest and only legal document of the 20th century, the Geneva Agreement of 1954 and two international meetings related to Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. That was the United Nations meeting held in San Francisco - the far western city of the United States on August 5-9, 1951, at which the international community rejected China's sovereignty claim. Three years later, on July 5, 1954, the Geneva Agreement affirmed that Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belonged to Vietnam.

Second, we have morality. Vietnamese people are always tolerant and peaceful. For the past 2,500 years, Vietnam has never waged war with any country. Vietnamese history is built on the foundation of many struggles against invasion and to preserve independence and territorial integrity.

The third thing is that Vietnam has the support of the international community. China does not because they have no morality. They have more guns and more money, but they have no legal right, they are completely immoral, not only do they pull the drilling rig, violating the 1982 United Nations Convention, they also use large-capacity ships to ram directly into Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ships, sea vessels, and fishing boats. In international disputes, no country uses force or threats of force, that is the red thread running through all modern laws. Yet China uses large ships to ram into Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ships, coast guard ships, and fishing boats, that is an inhumane, aggressive, belligerent act, an act of "using force to bully others", using a big country to oppress a small country. This inhumane act is unacceptable. This is our strength, our support to fight against China.

Of course, in the struggle with China, we also have difficulties. Our economic potential is difficult, lower than China's. In the economic relationship between Vietnam and China, we export to China 1, import 10-15, that is the weak point. Through this event, we need to be calm to clearly recognize this weak point in order to build an independent and self-reliant economy, not being dominated by China and monopolizing the Vietnamese economy. If China dominates the Vietnamese economy, it will be extremely dangerous to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

That is our difficulty. But I think that through this time, the Party Central Committee and the Government have clearly recognized it, and certainly there must be adjustments in the design of foreign economic policies to ensure that our country's economy is independent, self-reliant, and develops sustainably.

Reporter:Dear Major General, as an experienced strategist, what are your predictions for the scenarios in repelling the Haiyang 981 drilling rig?

Major General Le Van Cuong:This is a very difficult problem, I think that no one in the world can answer this question with certainty. Regarding forecasts, there are a bunch of problems. Will they withdraw, and where will they withdraw? I believe China will withdraw, maybe before or after August 15. They announced to the world that this rig will complete its mission on August 15. And it is normal to withdraw when the problem is done. But where will they withdraw? This is a more difficult question. There are three possible directions in which they will withdraw: One is that they will withdraw from the waters under Vietnam's sovereignty, placing them in international waters, this direction is not a cause for concern. Two is that this rig will move into China's exclusive economic zone, this is also not a cause for concern.

But the third possibility is that they move away from the current waters, but not to international waters, nor to their own waters, but to the Southeast, still within the waters under Vietnam's economic sovereignty, which is extremely dangerous. The closer they get to Truong Sa, the closer they get to Cam Ranh, the closer they get to the South Central region, this possibility cannot be ruled out. Note that since the beginning of the year, in parallel with their aggressive actions, China has been gathering materials to build a runway on Gac Ma Island - the island that China seized from us in the 29-minute war on March 14, 1988. The very act of moving the Haiyang 981 drilling rig is a reason to draw international and Vietnamese attention in another direction, so that they can rest assured to build this runway.

The third issue is, what will they do in the two months from now until August 15? Let's assume they withdraw on August 15, then from now until then, what tricks will they play, what other tricks will they launch, what forces will they use? We have to predict this. There are still issues ahead that we need to calculate to forecast, closely monitor the situation in a timely manner to have proactive countermeasures. It can be said that there are still many issues that are not clear.

Reporter:Dear Major General, the Vietnamese tradition is "using the few to fight the many", "using the weak to defeat the strong", so in this story, what message do you have for the readers of Nghe An Newspaper?

Major General Le Van Cuong:In the event that China illegally moved the drilling rig into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, the international community supported Vietnam, 90 million Vietnamese people in the country and 5 million Vietnamese people abroad were extremely indignant and expressed their opposition to China. That is the patriotism that has been accumulated for 2,500 years, Vietnamese people regardless of their political views, regardless of religion or non-religion, male or female, old or young, all have a patriotism, a continuous flow for 2,500 years. Every time there is a foreign invader, all Vietnamese people rise up to react, ready to sacrifice themselves. Patriotism is an indomitable tradition, flowing in the blood of Vietnamese people.

In the current context, I think that if there is anything I want to send to the readers of Nghe An Newspaper and more than 3 million people of our homeland Nghe An, I think first of all, at your working position, working, studying, in the fields or in the factories, on the construction sites, you must first do your best in your current job. Patriotism is only effective when the community is strong enough to confront foreign invaders. To have enough strength, you must work most effectively. Strength must come from work efficiency. Everyone, depending on their position, students must study best, civil servants, public employees, workers, farmers... must work best. Because each person studies and works best, we will create the fundamental strength to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The second issue is to show patriotism, we can hold rallies in the hall, send petitions, take to the streets to protest in an orderly and lawful manner, reflecting the cultural and civilized nature of the peaceful and tolerant Vietnamese people. If we protest, we should carry slogans with two contents: Hoang Sa and Truong Sa belong to Vietnam, demanding that China withdraw the Haiyang 981 drilling rig and all illegal ships from Vietnam's waters. In rallies, protests at home or on the streets, absolutely do not use a single word or sentence that disparages the Chinese people, do not incite or defame them. Because I believe that the majority of the 1.3 billion Chinese people are as good as the Vietnamese people, they are as peaceful and tolerant as the Vietnamese people. They have no benefit in any aggression against Vietnam. Even the vast majority of Chinese generals, officers, and soldiers do not want to provoke us, because what benefit do they have? And among the 370 members of the Chinese Communist Party, I believe that the vast majority of them also do not want to provoke Vietnam.

Therefore, whether we rally in the hall or on the streets, we must abide by the law and order, and show that we are people of a country and a people with a tradition of culture and tolerance. We are cultured people, and we must not behave like what happened in Binh Duong and Vung Ang, which are extremely bad actions. When protesting on the streets, we must not touch in the slightest the facilities and representative offices of China in Vietnam. These bad actions will affect our reputation.

Reporter:Sincerely thank Major General, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Van Cuong.

PV