(VOVWORLD) - Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao, who was re-elected to the United Nations International Law Commission for the 2023-2027 tenure, has told VOV that he will do everything possible in collaboration with Vietnamese authorities to conclude negotiations on and adopt the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea).
 Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao (Photo: Anh Huyen/VOV5) |
Thao said, “Vietnam pursues its explicit, consistent policy to work with other countries to strive for a practical, effective COC, which is a set of rules, not solutions to specific issues, just the way the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea works to regulate activities at sea. Enforcing the UNCLOS is our foremost task, followed by agreements to handle specific issues.
He went on to say, "The adoption of the COC will lift ASEAN centrality to new heights as new mechanisms emerge, such as QUAD - a strategic security dialogue between the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, and AUKUS - a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Ambassador Thao said he is proud to be the first Vietnamese representative at the ILC, which is tasked with codifying and developing international law, not settling disputes between countries. Thao promised his utmost efforts to building common standards of international law, including peacefully settling disputes in the East Sea.
On November 1, 2021, Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao was re-elected to the ILC with 145 of 193 votes, 4th of 11 Asia-Pacific candidates after India, Thailand, and Japan.