Vietnamese intellectuals back Philippines Panatag claim
HANOI: Sixty-six Vietnamese from various backgrounds and fields, supported the Philippines' claim on the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and called on China to abandon its "absurd marital claim" on the area.
The group, which include well-known intellectuals and academicians in Vietnam and overseas, sent a letter to Philippine Ambassador to Vietnam Jerril Galban Santos to express their support for the Philippines in the standoff with China.
Among the signatories are a former Vietnamese ambassador to China, several heads of tertiary institutions, poets and social scientists.
"We fully support the sovereign rights of the Philippines in the Panatag Shoal area and the Philippines's actions to defend her sovereign rights," they said in their letter.
"We resolutely oppose China's attempts to use its "nine-dashed line", which is completely without historical or legal basis, to encroach on the Exclusive Economic Zones and continental shelves of the Philippines, Vietnam and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries. We strongly oppose China's illegal actions and threats of force in the Panatag Shoal dispute," they added.
The group also backed the Philippine government's proposal to submit the dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos).
"We call on the governments and citizens of all Asean countries to take concrete actions to show solidarity with the Philippines, to assist her in the defense of her sovereign rights in the Panatag Shoal area, and to defend the sovereign rights of each and every Asean country as affirmed in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (Unclos)," they said.
"We solemnly declare that China's illegal "nine-dashed line" constitutes a threat to peaceful cooperation and sustainable development in Southeast Asia. To re-establish stability and ensure freedom of navigation in the West Philippines Sea/East Sea, we demand that China gives up its absurd maritime claims in these waters. The just cause of the government and people of the Philippines will prevail," they added.
Philippines Today: Vietnamese intellectuals back Philippines Panatag claim