Vietnam Invites India to Explore Resources in Disputed South China Sea Region
NEW DELHI: Vietnam on Wednesday invited strategic partner India to explore and exploit natural resources within the Southeast Asian countries 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea (SCS) region where China has deployed fighter jets besides surface-to-air missiles ratcheting up tensions.
"Vietnam has sovereign rights and jurisdiction within 200 nautical miles of our EEZ and continental shelf in accordance with UNCLOS 1982. We are determined to protect our rights and maintain regular activities in our sovereign waters. Accordingly, we shall continue to cooperate with other countries including India to explore and exploit resources within our 200-nautical-mile EEZ," Vietnam's Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh told a select group of audience here amid fresh US reports on Wednesday that Chinese Shenyang J-11 and Xian JH-7 warplanes have been spotted on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel Islands chain over the past few days in SCS.
But Vietnam claims sovereignty over both Paracel and Spratly Islands. "...let us be sure and clear that both Paracel and Spratly Islands in SCS belong to Vietnam. We have full historical evidence and legal foundation to confirm our sovereignty over these Islands, which in fact have been owned and controlled peacefully and continuously by Vietnam since the 17th Century when no other countries claimed their sovereignty over these islands. We are determined to protect our sovereignty over these islands," Ambassador Tanh asserted without mincing any words.
Besides growing defence partnership with Vietnam and recently placing satellite tracking system there, India has been awarded oil blocks in SCS by Hanoi. Despite China's protests against India continues to be present in these oil blocks from where ONGC Videsh Limited supplies oil to Vietnam. SCS is rich in hydrocarbon besides other marine wealth including fisheries.
Referring to last week speech by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj where she described SCS as pathways to prosperity and security, the Vietnamese Ambassador said, "We appreciate the position of India on resolving the South China Sea disputes peacefully, without threat or actual use of force, and early concluding a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea. In my view, the settlement of the maritime disputes between India and Bangladesh in the sea of Bengal by using the UN's Arbitration Tribunal is a good example for the claimants in South China Sea to solve their problems."
As regards the ongoing legal case by the Philippines in at the UN's Arbitration Tribunal about the Chinese nine-dash claim, Vietnam supports the full compliance and implementation of all provisions and procedures of the 1982 UN Convention on Law of the Sea, including the settlement of disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention by peaceful means.
Chinese reclamation works and territorial claims in SCS over the past few years which have encroached EEZ of Vietnam and Philippines have not only drawn sharp reactions from these SE Asian countries but also USA, Japan and India. Delhi has repeatedly called for freedom of navigation through SCS from where over 50 per cent of its trade is carried out with countries of Southeast Asia and East Asia as it feels that Chinese defence infrastructure could impede smooth movement of its commerce in the region. It has called for early conclusion of Code of Conduct to settle the dispute adhering to the UNCLOS and joined both USA and Japan in voicing concerns over unilateral Chinese actions in the region. Australia and Singapore have also called for stability in the region joining India which has espoused stability in the Indo-Pacific region amid China's rising ambitions.
Woody Island, which is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, has had an operational airfield since the 1990s but it was upgraded last year to accommodate the J-11. Beijing has deployed surface-to-air missiles on the island, apparently HQ-9s, which have a range of about 125 miles (200 kilometers.). The recent development came to light as US Secretary of State John Kerry hosted his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Washington.
According to the Vietnamese envoy, "Pending a long-term settlement of this issue, all parties should maintain the status quo, against the threat or use of force to resolve the disputes, exercise self-restraint to avoid intensifying the situation in the region. They should strictly, efficiently and fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) and to early adopt the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea."
Vietnam is deeply concerned actions of China, which not only seriously infringed Vietnam's sovereignty, but also threatened the regional peace and stability as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in the words of the Ambassador.
"As you are well aware, the South China Sea with over 3.7 million square kilometer surface area not only provides the surrounding countries with oil and gas, seafood and other natural resources, but also serves as the most critical shipping routes between Pacific and Indian Ocean. The South China Sea has naturally become important to all countries within and outside the region, including major powers like India. Therefore, the above-said illegal activities of China, especially their militarization of the South China Sea not only increase the tensions and decrease the strategic trust but also create serious and long-term impacts on peace, security, development and cooperation in Indo-Asia Pacific region," the senior diplomat noted.
Before 1947, all geographical maps printed by China show their territory stopped at Hainan Island only. In 1974, China used force to occupy the Paracel Islands which were under Vietnam's administration. In 1988, China again used force to occupy some reefs in the Spratly Islands of Vietnam.
In 2009, China officially claimed an area within a nine-dash lines as their historic waters which cover 80% of South China Sea and overlap in a large scale with the EEZs of all other countries surrounding South China Sea, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In 2012, China occupied Scarborough Shoal in the EEZ of the Philippines. In May 2014, China put a large oil-rig in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Vietnam.
Early last year, Vietnam found a large-scale land reclamation and construction of the artificial islands by China on 7 areas in the Spratly Islands. Over the past 20 months, more than 2,900 acres of land has been reclaimed by China, accounting for 95 percent of all land reclaimed by others in the Spratly Islands over the past 40 years.
China has also built big airstrips on 3 artificial islands in SCS. Early this year, China began conducting flights to the airstrip it had illegally built at Fiery Cross Reef of Spratly Archipelago. And most recently, China has built a helicopter base on Duncan island in SCS.
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