Contents of the Declaration of the Government of Vietnam on the establishment of maritime zones
On May 12, 1977, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam declared the establishment of our country's maritime zones including territorial waters, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelf.
The Declaration stated: "The Socialist Republic of Vietnam exercises full and complete sovereignty over its territorial sea as well as over the airspace above, the seabed and subsoil of the territorial sea." Article 1 of the 1977 Declaration defined Vietnam's territorial sea as 12 nautical miles wide from the baseline.
This declaration gradually expanded the first maritime zones of a unified Vietnam. It ended the unclear status of Vietnam's territorial waters, a legacy of the colonial period and the Saigon regime (territorial waters of 3 nautical miles wide and territorial waters for fishing purposes of 20 km wide).
The continental coastal territorial waters are calculated from the system of straight baselines along the continental coast announced in the Declaration of November 12, 1982. The territorial waters of the islands and archipelagos of the two districts of Hoang Sa (Da Nang) and Truong Sa (Khanh Hoa) will be calculated according to the coordinate system of the standard points of the baselines of the islands and archipelagos, which is stipulated in a separate document. The decision to establish Vietnam's 12-nautical-mile territorial waters in 1977 was a correct decision, it is completely consistent with Article 3 of the 1982 Convention. This decision has contributed to making the principle of the breadth of the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters soon become a customary principle.
Article 2 of the 1977 Declaration stipulates that Vietnam has a contiguous zone of 12 nautical miles adjacent to the territorial sea and forms with the territorial sea a maritime zone of 24 nautical miles from the baseline used to measure the breadth of the territorial sea. The Government of Vietnam exercises the necessary control to protect security, customs and tax interests and ensure compliance with health, migration and immigration regulations within the territory or territorial sea of Vietnam. Article 7 of Decree 30/CP of the Government reserves for itself the right to rescue foreign vessels in distress not only in internal waters and territorial sea but also in the contiguous zone in accordance with the breadth provisions of the 1982 Convention.
The 1977 Declaration also stipulates: Vietnam's exclusive economic zone is adjacent to the territorial sea and forms with the territorial sea a 200 nautical mile area from the baseline used to measure the breadth of the territorial sea. The State of Vietnam has full sovereignty over the exploration, exploitation, protection and management of all natural resources, living and non-living in the waters, on the seabed and in the subsoil of the seabed of Vietnam's exclusive economic zone; has separate rights and jurisdiction over other activities serving the exploration and exploitation of the exclusive economic zone for economic purposes; has separate jurisdiction over marine scientific research in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone; has separate jurisdiction over the establishment, installation and use of structures, artificial islands as well as activities to protect and prevent marine environmental pollution.
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