Deputy PM Minh holds talks with Chinese State Councillor

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechion June 18 conducted a meeting in Hanoi in their capacity as Chairs of the two countries’ Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.

At the meeting, Deputy PM Minh affirmed that the Party, State, Government and people of Vietnam always place importance to maintaining and strengthening the neighbouring friendship and comprehensive cooperation with China.

He said over the past years, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China has seen developments in both scale and depth as a result of efforts of both sides.

He noted that however, in the context of the fine development of bilateral ties, China ’s placement of its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 deep into the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam has violated international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS-1982). The move also threatens navigation security and safety as well as peace and stability in the region while hurting the Vietnamese people’s sentiments and putting negative impacts on the cooperation between the two countries.

Deputy PM Minh firmly asserted Vietnam ’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago as well as its sovereign right and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf as defined under the UNCLOS-1982 to which both Vietnam and China are members.

The Deputy PM requested that China move its rig and escort ships out of Vietnam ’s waters, control the situation to prevent conflicts and join talks for the settlement of current tensions as well as other differences between the two countries in accordance with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.

For his part, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi affirmed that the Party, Government and people of China always attach importance to developing their friendship with Vietnam . He agreed that the two sides should work to stabilise the situation at sea, restrain themselves to prevent conflicts and prevent bilateral ties from worsening, while making joint efforts to promote cooperation between the two countries for greater and more substantial developments. At the same time, Yang Jiechi repeated China’s stance on the East Sea.

The two sides affirmed their intention to maintain mechanisms for exchanges and cooperation between ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries while effectively carrying out the plan of action to implement the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and organising the 7th session of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.-VNA