China urges Vietnam to make efforts in sea dispute

Protesters hold up Vietnamese flags and anti-China banners during a protest against the alleged invasion of Vietnamese territory by Chinese ships in disputed waters, in Hanoi on Sunday. AFP

BEIJING—China on Tuesday urged Vietnam to make “earnest efforts” to resolve a flare-up over disputed waters in the South China Sea, after hundreds staged a rare protest in Hanoi over Beijing’s actions.

Relations between Beijing and Hanoi have grown increasingly tense in the past 10 days over a long-standing dispute related to the sovereignty of the potentially resource-rich Paracel archipelago and the Spratly islands.

“China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly islands and nearby territorial waters,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

“China and Vietnam reached important consensus many times on how to appropriately handle maritime issues and maintain stability in the South China Sea,” he added.

“We hope the Vietnamese side will make earnest efforts to implement the relevant consensus.”

The group of around 300 protesters in Hanoi—bearing signs such as “Protesting against China causing trouble”—met quietly for half an hour on Sunday before peacefully dispersing, at the request of 50 armed policemen.

In May, Chinese surveillance ships confronted a Vietnamese oil exploration vessel in the South China Sea, which Hanoi deemed to be a violation of its sovereignty and a breach of the UN convention on the law of the sea.

Vietnam accused China of expanding the scope of the dispute and demanded that Beijing pay compensation for damage allegedly inflicted on the Vietnamese vessel. China has told Vietnam to end its activities in the contested waters.

The Paracel archipelago and the more southerly Spratlys in the South China Sea are both potentially resource-rich outcrops that straddle strategic shipping lanes.

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim all or part of the territories in question, and renewed tensions drew a warning on Saturday from the United States that the disputes could lead to armed conflict.

The Philippines has also accused China of aggressively violating an agreement aimed at preventing clashes in the disputed Spratly Islands.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Tuesday that the latest confrontation in South China Sea islands close to Palawan is the most serious challenge to efforts to resolve the dispute peacefully since 1995, when China forcibly took over Manila-claimed Mischief Reef.

The Philippine government said it has evidence that show at least six Chinese intrusions in Manila-claimed areas in and near the Spratlys since February. Among the most serious was the reported firing February 25 by a Chinese navy vessel to scare away Filipino fishermen from the Jackson Atoll, a Spratlys area claimed by Manila.