HANOI (UCAN): “We strongly condemn China’s illegal actions (in Vietnam’s waters and islands),” a group of eight civil society and Christian groups and some 140 intellectuals, advocates and former government officials said in a statement on April 21.
The statement, also signed by Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop of Ha Tinh, many priests and pastors, demanded Vietnam’s government take China to the international court asking China to return the islands, delete its unlawful U-shaped nine-dash-line claim to the South China Sea and fix national waters according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. They said China asserted unlawful sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea by establishing two administrative units on them.
On April 18, China decided to establish the new districts of Xisha and Nansha on the disputed Paracel and Spratly archipelagos claimed by Vietnam. The two districts are under the control of China’s Sansha City, established in 2012.
The group said China’s latest rapid-fire moves show that Vietnam’s giant communist neighbour is intentionally abusing the time when other countries are preoccupied with the Covid-19 pandemic to create advantages in the energy-rich waters.
The statement added that Vietnam has historical evidence and legal foundations to assert its sovereignty over the two archipelagos. Vietnam sent two diplomatic notes to the United Nations in March and April denying China’s unlawful claims and claiming its legal sovereignty over the archipelagos.
They said China should compensate Vietnamese fishermen and companies for damages caused by Chinese ships in recent years in Vietnam’s waters.
Since July 2019, Chinese ships have trespassed and operated in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone many times, held military exercises and obtruded on other countries’ offshore oil and gas explorations. On 2 April 2019, a Chinese coast guard vessel sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands. Eight fishermen from Quang Ngai province were rescued. On 17 April 2019, China demanded Vietnam withdraw its staff from the Spratly Islands.
The group asked the Vietnamese government to work with neighbouring Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to fix their waters clearly and cooperate with them.
The statement urged government officials to respect civil society groups and ensure the people’s right to exercise their patriotism and advertise pictures of Vietnam’s waters and islands on all products, especially the No-U picture protesting China’s illegal U-shaped nine-dash-line. Police have banned and arrested many people who wear T-shirts with the image.
The advocates also called on the government to release all prisoners of conscience who had exercised their civil rights and peacefully fought for freedom, human rights, the environment and national sovereignty.
In conclusion, they asked the communist government to make plans to change its dictatorial regime to universal democracy.
Vietnam previously banned state media from publishing reports opposing China’s marine incursions into Vietnam’s waters and islands. Many advocates were imprisoned on charges of inciting violence and causing hostility between Vietnamese and Chinese.
State media are now allowed to report China’s actions but advocates say that the government needs to garner the people’s support to fight the incursions.
