Associate Professor, Doctor Vu Thanh Ca, former Director of the Department for International Cooperation and Science Technology, Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands, said, “China’s unilateral ban covers the entire Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam and a part of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. This goes against international law. The fishery resource in the East Sea is depleting, so countries need cooperation on the basis of respect for national sovereignty. Vietnam has the sovereign right and jurisdiction right to issue a fishing ban in its water where China absolutely does not.”

According to Nguyen Chu Hoi, Vice President of the Vietnam Fisheries Association, the ban followed China’s approval of its Coast Guard Law. The Vietnam Fisheries Association has sent a diplomatic note to oppose this unilateral move and noticed local authorities and fisheries associations to instruct fishermen how to operate in this fishing ground.

On April 29, Vice Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Doan Khac Viet said that Vietnam objects to and resolutely rejects this unilateral decision by China, which has violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa  archipelago; infringed international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; run counter to the spirit and wording of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues between Vietnam and China.