VNA rejects Chinese press's false information about the East Sea

After the meeting, many official Chinese media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency, chinadaily.com.cn (the English-language foreign edition of the China Daily) and the Chinese-language People's Daily, quoted Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting as saying: "Vietnam respects China's stance on the South China Sea arbitration case," and also said: "Vietnam is willing to promote bilateral negotiations on maritime issues and properly manage differences with China to contribute to regional peace and stability."

In fact, during the meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister, when mentioning the East Sea issue, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc suggested that both sides seriously implement the agreements and common perceptions of high-ranking leaders, including the "Agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of Vietnam-China maritime issues" agreed upon by General Secretaries Nguyen Phu Trong and Hu Jintao in October 2011 to promote the negotiation mechanisms at sea to soon have substantial progress, at the same time well control disagreements at sea, not complicate the situation, effectively and comprehensively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and soon reach a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), contributing to maintaining peace and stability in the region.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also reaffirmed Vietnam's stance on the July 12, 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague (Netherlands) in the case of the Philippines suing China over the East Sea issue.

Previously, on July 12, 2016, the spokesman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Le Hai Binh, stated: “Vietnam welcomes the Arbitral Tribunal's final ruling on July 12, 2016... Vietnam once again affirms its consistent stance on this lawsuit as fully expressed in the Statement of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to the Arbitral Tribunal on December 5, 2014. In that spirit, Vietnam strongly supports the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, including diplomatic and legal processes, not using or threatening to use force in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, maintaining peace, stability in the region, security, safety, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, respecting the principle of the rule of law in seas and oceans.

On this occasion, Vietnam continues to affirm its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, its sovereignty over internal waters and territorial waters, its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as determined in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as all of Vietnam's legal rights and interests related to the geographical structures of the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos”./.

According to VNA