China’s latest Coast Guard Law, passed by the country’s parliament on January 22, has sparked protests from countries in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the East China Sea. This law allows China’s Coast Guard to fire at foreign ships operating in waters claimed by Beijing, grant them the right to destroy structures built by other countries, and establish zones that prohibit the movement of foreign ships and boats from entering these waters.
Mr. Le Than, chairman of Le Hieu Dang Club, said that to him this new law was serious aggression by China in its claim to claim sovereignty over the region.
“My first reaction was to feel they would escalate the war. Or, frankly, more specifically, that they have taken a more drastic approach in asserting their sovereignty over the East Sea. But that violates international law, invading the territory and territorial waters as well as the sovereignty of Vietnam in the East Sea.”
Since then, Mr. Than and a number of friends have launched the idea that requires the Vietnamese regime to be determined to react and act. On February 2, they started to disseminate “Petition to Vietnam’s National Assembly to issue a Resolution on the East Sea situation.” Within two days, more than six organizations and 30 individuals, many intellectuals and scholars, have signed the open letter.
The petition states “We, the Vietnamese patriot, find that the promulgation of the Coast Guard Law by China has added serious threats to the living environment of the Vietnamese people in the East Sea.”
Specifically, the petition clearly states 1. The Chinese Coast Guard Law illegally legalizes the actions of the Chinese Coast Guard: shooting and killing fishermen, sinking boats, destroying fishing gears of Vietnamese fishermen … 2. The law legalizes (illegally) the acts of the Chinese Coast Guard escorting resource exploration and exploitation activities that China does in the East Sea areas under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam under the International Convention on the Law of the Sea …. 3. The law illegally legalizes acts of repression, using force to provoke and suppress Vietnam’s law enforcement forces, etc.
Mr. Than continued: “From that perception, now at all costs, people must tell Vietnam’s National Assembly directly that this it must act to protect the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea. People should request the Vietnamese parliament to issue a resolution. Because so far, Vietnam’s communist regime has verbally protested China’s aggressive behaviors in the East Sea as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sends its spokesperson to repeat some sentences in general without criticizing specific acts carried out by China.”
The signatories of the petition asked the Vietnamese National Assembly to “act and issue“: the first is a resolution that formally opposes and rejects the legal validity of China’s Coast Guard Law, asserting sovereignty and Vietnam’s jurisdiction over the Hoang Sa (Paracels) and the Truong Sa (Spratlys), the seas and airspace of Vietnam. The second is to issue a resolution on suing China to the international jurisdiction. And finally, the issuance of a resolution calling on the members of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to pay special attention to the possibility of breaking the legal order in the East Sea.
Journalist Huynh Son Phuoc, one of the signatories to the petition, said that the National Assembly of Vietnam needs to act because the rights of the Vietnamese people are at stake:
“The civilian boats they have only one thing to do is to net, fish, and fish. They have nothing to defend themselves. For those who do business on their own waters, no one has the right to compromise their safety. That law is no different from declaring that Vietnamese fishermen are always in front of China’s gun. While they were fishing, they stood in front of their guns. A person in business who always has a gun pointed at his face is a challenge that I think is too serious. The right to life, the right to live, to do business, to live, to seek happiness of its citizens on our waters has been violated and threatened, I think that the Vietnamese fishermen should be protected. The parliament must protect the legitimate and legitimate rights and interests of the country’s citizens.”
Mr. Vu Quoc Ngu, Director of Defend the Defenders, signed the petition, agreed with journalist Huynh Son Phuoc, Mr. Ngu commented that Vietnam needs to have more drastic actions which could include suing China to the International Court of Arbitration (PCA):
“Vietnam needs to take stronger actions, such as summoning Chinese ambassador, giving stronger notes of protest, and carrying legal steps, such as bringing China to the international court, as the Philippines did. China may not recognize the legality of the PCA Court of 2016. But what we do we have to do to show that Vietnam has strong measures to protect its sovereignty in the East Sea.”
Mr. Ngu also noted that China passed its Coast Guard Law just two days after the new US president Joe Biden took office:
“Maybe this is China’s long-term plan, but it could also be a test to the new administration of US President Biden because the US is one of the very strong countries in claiming and exercising freedom of navigation and airspace in the South China Sea, as well as opposing some of China’s unreasonable claims in the sea.”
For Mr. Ngu, the Vietnamese communist regime may ignore the petition like many other petitions in the past, but he said the goal of this announcement is not only at the Vietnamese regime but also a call for Vietnamese people to pay more attention to the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
