Beijing told not to threaten security in South China Sea

HANOI: Vietnam yesterday called on China to refrain from conducting provocative activities that could threaten security in the South China Sea next year when Hanoi takes over the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“I hope that during our chairmanship, China will restrain and refrain from this kind of activities,” Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said in a lecture in Singapore.

In July, China sparked tension with Vietnam when it sent a research ship to be stationed for months in an area that Vietnam designates as its exclusive economic zone but which is also claimed by Beijing.

“You have seen what China has done a couple of months before in Vietnam’s EEZ. Of course, it’s a blatant violation of our sovereignty. But Vietnam ... did exercise self-restraint and finally China withdrew from the EEZ, but I am not sure if such kind of thing will not happen again,” Mr Dung said.

“What China did was very alarming and also a kind of threatening. Not only Vietnam but also other countries see the potential of being threatened in the future,” he said.

Mr Dung said China has almost completed its reclamations of artificial islands and has militarised those features.

He acknowledged that ASEAN tends to have different views in terms of how to deal with China on this issue. States like Cambodia, which heavily relies on China for development aid and trade have been anxious not to aggravate Beijing.