Vietnam slams China’s East Sea fishing ban as sovereignty violation

“Part of the fishing ban violates Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, and Vietnam’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, as well as the Agreement on the Delimitation of the Gulf of Tonkin between Vietnam and China that was signed in 2000,” Le Thi Thu Hang, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday.

Hang reiterated that Vietnam’s stance on China’s fishing ban in the East Sea, known internationally as South China Sea, “is consistent and well established over the years.”

China announced that it would enforce a summer fishing ban from May 1 to August 16, in waters that includes part of the Gulf of Tonkin and the Paracel Islands that belongs to Vietnam.

“Vietnam requests China to respect Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its maritime zones when taking measures to conserve biological resources in the East Sea, without complicating the situation towards maintaining peace, stability and order in the East Sea,” Hang said.

Every year, China illegally imposes a unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea on fishermen from other countries, proclaiming strengthened supervision and threatening to punish actions that it considers violations.