(VOVworld) – Former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh, who is the chairwoman of the Viet Nam Fund for Peace and Development, has sent a letter to her friends worldwide to brief them on China ’s illegal placement of an oil rig within Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf.
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| Former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh (Photo: VOV) |
Here’s the full text of the letter:
“As you know, on May 2nd, China deployed a giant oil rig escorted by over 100 ships, including military vessels, and aircraft to Vietnam’s EEZ and continental shelf. This is a serious act, violating Vietnamese sovereignty and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Vietnam has used diplomatic channels and other mediums to communicate with China and has sent several law enforcement ships to the area to ask China to respect Vietnam’s sovereignty and withdraw the rig from Vietnam’s waters. China has, to date, not responded to Vietnam’s goodwill but instead is taking increasingly aggressive action.
When I saw images of many bigger Chinese ships ramming smaller Vietnamese law enforcement vessels, I felt heart wrenching. What will happen next?
The world is concerned that China’s actions will impact safety and freedom of international navigation and threaten the peace and security of the whole region. Meanwhile, China has blamed what is happening on Vietnam’s provocation. Who can believe that Vietnam, whose population is one-fifteenth of China’s, whose GDP is 60 times smaller, a country struggling with poor development, is ready to provoke China?”
After citing Chinese leaders as saying Chinese policy advocates “peaceful rise” and that “there's no gene for invasion in Chinese people's blood”, Binh asked: “How can China explain its “nine-dash line” claim to monopolise the whole East Sea, ignoring international law, especially UNCLOS 1982, as well as the world’s protests?
Independence, freedom, and sovereignty are sacred to every nation. The Vietnamese people will struggle to the last to safeguard these. We want peace and friendship so that women, children, and all Vietnamese will have a better life.
Vietnam desires a just, real, and long-lasting peace for Vietnam and other nations in the region and the world. We desire friendship with China and other countries, but it must be a true, sincere friendship with mutual respect. I believe that you all think the same. We hope you will support us as you did in the past, first, in demanding that China withdraw its oil rig from Vietnam’s continental shelf and honor Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty in compliance with international law.
When we all act firmly in solidarity, justice and the law will prevail."