VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s economy would not suffer much if China suspended trade with Vietnam due to the East Sea tensions triggered by its illegal placement of a giant oil rig deep inside Vietnam’s waters,

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has said that Vietnam is checking information that China is building a fake island and military base on Gac Ma Reef (Johnson South Reef) in the center of the East Sea.

China’s act of locating its oil rig in contested waters in the Paracels is more than a dispute over sovereignty. It is also a dispute about international law of the sea.

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) has called upon parties involved in territorial disputes in the East Sea to fully observe the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to settle their disputes peacefully.

What is happening in the East Sea is critically serious and Vietnam resolutely demands China to withdraw oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 and more than 100 ships from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh has affirmed Vietnam’s resolve to defend its sovereignty and territorial waters in a speech delivered at the 27th ASEAN-US Dialogue in Myanmar on June 10.

China has showed signs of moving the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 illegally placed in Viet Nam’s waters in a South-easternly direction

The Senior Officials’ Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (SOM ARF) opened on June 9 in Yangon, Myanmar, giving much space for the East Sea issue.

Chinese tugboat 281 on June 7 deliberately rammed into the left side of Vietnam’s fisheries surveillance ship KN-635 that was undertaking law enforcement in the area around the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-98

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh has extended an invitation to Chinese media to participate in field trips into Vietnam’s territorial waters where China has illegally placed its oil rig.

Vietnam hopes that the US will have a stronger voice and take more practical actions to contribute to peace, stability, security, and maritime safety in the region, and to settling regional disputes in line with international law.

 The White House has described China's placement of an oil rig in Vietnam’s waters as a provocative act and warned Beijing not to raise tensions in the region.