China slams Vietnam over South China Sea claims, defends sovereignty
China has lashed out at Vietnam for what it described as illegal claims in the South China Sea, warning that any attempt at rejecting Beijing’s sovereignty in the disputed waters would be “doomed to fail.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments at a daily press briefing in the capital, Beijing, on Tuesday, after Vietnam filed a complaint with the United Nations (UN) and protested China’s alleged efforts to boost its presence in the disputed area.
Geng said China firmly opposed the complaint by Vietnam and had filed “solemn representations” of its own with Vietnamese officials.
“Any country that attempts to deny China’s sovereignty, rights, and interests in the South China Sea in any form and to reinforce their illegal claims is doomed to fail,” the Chinese official said. “China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, rights, and interests in the South China Sea.”
Accusing China of infringing its “sovereignty and jurisdiction rights” over parts of the South China Sea, Vietnam has on several occasions sent multiple diplomatic notes to the UN, and has over the past days protested China’s establishment of two districts in Sansha City, in southernmost China’s Hainan Province.
Stressing that the districts are located in Chinese territory, Geng said Beijing had sovereignty and jurisdiction over the South China Sea in accordance with international laws, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The South China Sea serves as a gateway to global sea routes, through which about 3.4 trillion dollars of trade passes each year. Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have overlapping claims with China to parts of the sea.
The United States, which sides with Beijing’s rivals in the maritime dispute, routinely sends warships and warplanes to the South China Sea to assert what it calls its right to freedom of navigation, ratcheting up tensions among the regional countries.
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