VietNamNet Bridge - In its confrontation with China, Vietnam has two things going for it that China has no hope of laying claim to:  the legal and ethical high ground.

A Chinese ship attacks a Vietnamese vessel in Vietnam's waters. The photo provided by the VN Coast Guard.

On Tuesday, thousands of people attended a seminar to share information about the East Sea, held by the Union of Vietnam Friendship Organizations (VUFO). Attendance was much larger than the organizers anticipated, so they had to install a projector and arrange many more chairs outside of the conference room.

Lt. Gen. Le Van Cuong, former Director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Strategy Institute, asserted that China’s anchoring of its oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is not a dispute. "When one breaks into the house of another, it is not called a dispute," he said.

Lt. Gen. Le Van Cuong said that 1.3 billion Chinese people are friends of Vietnam. But independence must be preserved. Photo: VNE

He said that the people of Vietnam have not been safe because of China’s aggression. China cut the cables of Vietnam’s Binh Minh ship and chased Vietnamese fishing boats from Vietnamese fishing grounds. China also established its so-called Sansha City which includes Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands.

"The legal invasion is extremely serious. The government of Vietnam needs to issue a statement of veto," he said, adding that this time, China set its rig on Vietnam's continental shelf and this act has made the entire people of Vietnam indignant. For the first time in three decades, both the government and the people of Vietnam resolutely protest China’s acts and the international community also condemns the illegal actions of China.

The general made the point that China has engaged in three unacceptable behaviors. The first is deploying its oil rig in Vietnam’s waters, in violation of international law. The second is attacking Vietnam's law enforcement vessels – an act of violence that has no place in the civilized world. The third is its shameless attempt to label Vietnam as the aggressor in this conflict, falsely slandering its southern neighbor when the whole world can plainly see who has been ramming whose vessels.

He compared present day events to those of February 17, 1979, when 600,000 Chinese soldiers swept over the Vietnamese border in daylight and the whole world knew. Yet every newspaper and radio in China reported to the Chinese people that it was Vietnam's army who invaded China. "For 35 years the Chinese media have relentlessly maintained that China only counterattacked against Vietnam after it was invaded," said Cuong.

Agreeing with General Cuong, lawyer Le Thanh Son from the Vietnam Bar Federation said that China is fraudulently redefining the law and deceiving the public. Under the provisions of international law, islands that are unsuitable for human habitation are not eligible for consideration in determining a nation’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. But China is attempting to graft all of the islands it is trying to occupy in making its EEZ claims, even enlisting shoals – which cannot emerge even at low tide –  as “inhabited islands”.

"Of course, these so-called inhabited islands of China have absolutely no human habitation and they don’t meet the standards for determining the continental shelf. But China is fraudulently distorting reality, turning the undisputed areas into the disputed areas and claiming its sovereignty rights there. By this method, in the very near future they will claim up to 80% of the East Sea. This is simply an invasion by China," he said.

On the issue of the balance of power between the two sides, General Cuong affirmed that in diplomacy and international dispute resolution, any country has two factors in making power: physical and spiritual. China has better material forces than Vietnam, with big guns, submarines and aircraft, but the material is not always crucial.

For thousands of years, the Vietnamese people have always been friendly and civilized and they have never used intrigue against any country. But facing invaders, they are indomitable and creative. In the spring of 1954, when Vietnam achieved its victory in Dien Bien Phu, the nation could not produce machine guns while French had powerful planes.

"In the confrontation with China this time, Vietnam has two things that China can never have. They are legal and ethical factors. Physical strength plus moral strength create inviolable strength," Cuong said.

He said that China is strong but they have a lot of vulnerabilities and the weakest is legal and ethical. Vietnam has always acknowledged the help of the Chinese people in history but if China invades Vietnam’s territory, the Vietnamese will defend their land and waters by any means necessary.

"Vietnam never agitates the nationalists against China because only the weak do that. 1.3 billion Chinese people are friends of Vietnam. But independence must be preserved," General Cuong confirmed.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, of the Institute of International Relations, said: China stated that setting the HD-981 rig is a normal operation in China’s waters but this site is 119 nautical miles from the base point of Ly Son Island, up to 180 nautical miles from Hainan Island, and 17 nautical miles from Tri Ton island of Hoang Sa Archipelago of Vietnam. Vietnam has sufficient legal evidence to prove its sovereignty over Hoang Sa  from the 12th century through the actual possession of the Nguyen emperors.

China occupied the Paracel Islands by illegal use of force contrary to the Charter of the United Nations in 1974. Moreover, the Tri Ton Island that they illegally occupy consists only of sand dunes, which do not have continental shelf eligibility in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.

China is also violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC)  and high-level agreements between the two countries on not threatening the use of force, resolving disputes and conflicts by peaceful means, and the six-point statements in 2011 between the leaders of Vietnam and China.

Compiled by Tran Cham