China’s fishing ban in East Sea is invalid: Vietnam Fisheries Society
China’s fishing ban in East Sea is invalid: Vietnam Fisheries Society
China's summer fishing ban in the East Sea is invalid and seriously violates Vietnam’s sovereignty over its waters and archipelagos, the Vietnam Fisheries Society (Vinafish) said.
The Vietnam Fisheries Society described China’s summer fishing ban in the East Sea as unilateral, unlawful and wrongful – PHOTO: CAND.COM.VN
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In an official dispatch sent to the Government Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations, Vinafish said China’s unilateral and unlawful fishing ban has infringed the rights and interests of Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone.
The ban also violates international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and is counter to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea.
“The enactment of the prohibition can lead to clashes between Vietnam’s law enforcement forces and fishing vessels against Chinese maritime forces, affecting the lawful activities of Vietnamese vessels and fishermen in the waters under Vietnamese sovereignty,” Vinafish said.
“China has no right to impose any fishing ban in Vietnam’s waters,” the society added, requesting that China immediately terminate its fishing ban in the East Sea, including the Vietnamese waters.
Vinafish suggested relevant agencies take strong action against China’s unilateral fishing ban to protect Vietnam’s sea and island sovereignty, national security, marine resources and Vietnamese fishermen.
The society will closely collaborate with local fisheries associations and relevant agencies to support Vietnamese fishermen while fishing at sea, contributing to the protection of Vietnam’s marine resources and sovereignty.
Earlier on April 29, vice spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Doan Khac Viet said Vietnam objects to and resolutely rejects China’s illegal fishing ban in the East Sea, which violates Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago and goes against agreements on solving maritime issues between the two countries.
Viet affirmed that Vietnam has sufficient legal and historical evidence of its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos as well as its legal rights to the waters in line with the 1982 UNCLOS.
China on April 27 unilaterally issued a summer fishing ban that takes effect from May 1 to September 16, 2021, in the waters covering part of the Gulf of Tonkin and Vietnam's Paracel Archipelago.
