DK1/12 rig is located on the southern continental shelf of Vietnam (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – China’sdeployment of survey vessel group Haiyang Dizhi-8 to Tu Chinh reef (VanguardBank) in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has violated internationallaw, Associate Prof. Ryan Martinson of the US Naval War College said in anarticle recently published on the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s m.newsprime.co.krwebsite.
Vietnam has repeatedly asked the vessel group to withdraw from its EEZ, Martinsonsaid, noting that China has infringed upon Vietnam’s EEZ as defined ininternational law.
The Tu Chinh reef does not belong to China’s EEZ and continental shelf, but it completelybelongs to Vietnam’s EEZ and 200-nautical mile continental shelf as clearlydefined in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),he said.
Although China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and there areChinese judges in some international courts such as the International Court ofJustice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the country hascontinuously declined to settle sea and island disputes at international lawenforcement agencies and international organisations, he said.
The expert stressed that according to international law practice, the mosteffective way to resolve disputes relating to sovereignty, sovereign rights andjurisdiction is to observe basic principles of international law approved bycountries./.
VNA
