Vietnam's territorial claim untenable: professor
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E-mail Xinhua, May 14, 2014
The location of China's drilling operations that stoked Vietnam's opposition is "obviously" within China's offshore waters, a Beijing-based expert on international studies told Xinhua on Wednesday.
The Vietnamese authorities recently dispatched a large number of vessels to waters off Zhongjian Island, obstructing drilling operations of a Chinese oil rig and ramming into China's patrolling vessels.
Gong Yingchun, international law professor with China Foreign Affairs University, said the provocative actions not only threaten the safety of the oil rig and those working on it, but also challenge the maritime jurisdiction exercised by China's patrolling vessels over waters under its jurisdiction.
The maritime drilling by the oil rig is 17 miles away from China's Zhongjian Island, but 150 miles from the Vietnamese coastline.
"The location is obviously within China's offshore waters, notwithstanding the lack of an official demarcation between China and Vietnam in this area," Gong said, adding "there is not any possibility for overlapping territorial claims between the two countries."
Gong cited clauses 56 and 60 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), saying China has the exclusive right to exploration, development, maintenance and resources management within the waters off the Xisha Islands to which Zhongjian Island, known as Triton Island in Vietnam, is affiliated.
Hanoi has chosen to view the entire sea between China and Vietnam as disputed territory just because of the lack of an official demarcation line, and it sent a flotilla of ships to disturb normal drilling operations on top of that, said Gong, accusing Vietnam of violating international practices and breaching the UNCLOS.
Gong believes that Vietnam should be held accountable for its actions, which are in violation of international law, and China has the right to take countermeasures in accordance with international law.
Gong referred to another two international documents, the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf. China and Vietnam have both ratified and are party to these two international conventions.
As stipulated by the two documents, China has the right to exercise its jurisdiction and impose some sanctions against any country whose activities endanger the safety of its maritime navigation and its fixed platforms on its Continental Shelf, Gong said.
However, Gong said by mobilizing armed vessels to ram Chinese ships in the waters only 17 miles away from Zhongjian Island, Vietnam has made clear its intention of provoking a head-on clash with China and turned a blind eye to the overall picture of Sino-Vietnamese relations. Endi
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