The international workshop themed “Navigating towards the free and open seas ofAsia: the Rule of Law and International Cooperation”, brought together some 70legal experts and international affairs scholars from Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan,and the United Kingdom.
Co-organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV), the Embassy of Japanand the British Embassy, the workshop was the first collaborative event betweenthe three countries in efforts to exchange views and propose mechanism forfurther cooperation based on international law.
The arbitral ruling on July 12 in The Hague, the Netherlands, was deemed alandmark event on the way to resolve complicated disputes in the East Sea eventhrough China refused to either participate in or acknowledge the findings.
“There are an increasing number of cases where interests of countries clashwith each other. There is growing concern about unilateral attempts to changethe status quo by force,” Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda said atthe workshop.
According to Ha Anh Tuan, Director of the Policy Research Centre of theInstitute for East Sea Studies, proposals came up to heighten the role of internationallaw at sea, however, a few of them was realized in reality.
Participants agreed on the need to uphold the rule of law and respectinternational law when dealing with the desire to have peace, stability andprosperity in free and open seas in Asia./.