China to safeguard sovereignty, jurisdiction

Some 4,000 Chinese nationals affected in the anti-foreign violence in Vietnam were heading home Monday from a central Vietnamese port.

Beijing dispatched four ships, each capable of carrying 1,000 passengers, from the southern Chinese port city of Haikou for the evacuation mission, and two more are on stand-by.

Meanwhile, China has advised its nationals against travelling to Vietnam due to safety concerns and suspended part of its bilateral exchange plans with Hanoi.

China's normal oil drilling in its territorial waters near the Xisha Islands has been disrupted by Vietnam, whose claim that the rig is within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has no legal basis and goes against historic facts.

It is even more irrational for Vietnam to violently harass Chinese ships in the rig area regardless of their safety and allow domestic looting and violence targeting foreign companies and nationals.

China has strongly opposed and resolutely responded to these moves.

Since May 2, Vietnam has carried out intensive disruptions of China Oilfield Services Limited's normal drilling in waters of China's Xisha Islands. From May 3 to 7, Vietnam dispatched 36 vessels, including armed ships, to ram Chinese boats as many as 171 times. It also sent frogmen and placed many fishing nets and large obstacles near Chinese vessels, posing security threats to Chinese ships and personnel.

Subsequent protests broke out in Vietnam and escalated into looting and violence targeting Chinese enterprises and nationals, leaving two Chinese dead and more than 100 others injured so far. Firms from countries like Singapore, Japan and the Republic of Korea in Vietnam were also affected.

In a telephone conversation with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China's position on safeguarding its legitimate sovereign rights and interests is firm and clear and will not change.

Wang stressed Chinese enterprises' normal oil drilling activities in the Xisha Islands and its contiguous zone had started 10 years ago. He said the violent disruptions and barbaric ramming by a large number of Vietnamese vessels are the cause of the tense situation.

In an urgent call with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh on Thursday, Wang lodged a solemn protest with Vietnam and voiced strong condemnation over the violence. He demanded Vietnam immediately take resolute and effective measures to stop all violence and ensure the safety of lives and property of all Chinese nationals and companies there.

The Vietnamese side bears unshirkable responsibility for the situation. Its intensive, irrational disruptions of China's normal drilling regardless of legal basis and historic facts should be to blame.

The site of rig 981 is only 17 nautical miles away from Zhongjian Island, which is administrated by Sansha City, south China's Hainan Province, while it is 150 nautical miles away from Vietnam.

China's territorial sovereignty over the waters is based on the U-like line officially announced by the Chinese government in 1947 and the map of the South China Sea islands published by it in 1948, said Wu Shicun, head of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

The international community, including countries surrounding the South China Sea, did not raise any questions to the demarcation and thus acquiesced to it, said Wu.

Besides, Chinese sovereignty and rights over islands in the South China Sea are based on legal rights formed through earliest discoveries, administration and inclusion into its maps, said Wu.

Therefore, they are completely China's historic rights which are in accordance with international laws and protected by them, he said.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates and respects the "historic title" in delimitation of the territorial sea between countries.

Vietnam's current claim over Xisha Islands is seriously weakened by North Vietnam's recognition of Chinese sovereignty over the islands in 1958 and its lack of protest between 1958 and 1975, said Sam Bateman, a senior fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of the Singapore-based Nanyang Technological University.

Bateman added that "despite global commentary that suggests otherwise, a negotiated maritime boundary in this area would likely place the rig within China's EEZ even if reduced weight was given to China's claimed insular features."

With the discoveries of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea since the 1970s, it has been the "sea of richness" in the eyes of Vietnam. According to reports of the Vietnam News Agency early this year, Vietnam's crude oil exports reached 7.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2013.

To grab resources, Vietnam has not hesitated to transfer many oilfield interests to attract Western capital and technology, and has illegally marked China's Nansha Island waters into more than 100 oil and gas development areas for public bidding.

Vietnam has repeatedly infringed and encroached China's rights and interests in the South China Sea by its fishing, occupation of islands and oil and gas development in China's territorial sea waters.

The Vietnamese side's disruptive actions violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea as well as a series of international pacts regarding maritime security, and harmed the peace and stability of the region.

Despite this, China has exercised uttermost restraint and fully implemented the declaration.

The declaration, which China signed with ASEAN members in November 2002, says "the parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability".

As an ASEAN member, Vietnam has the obligation to promote the cooperation and dialogue mechanisms between China and ASEAN, and maintainthe peace, stability and propensity of the South China Sea region.

It is shocking that violence took place both in the intensive disruptions targeting Chinese drilling operations and its domestic riots targeting foreign companies and nationals.

The situation requires communication from both sides. It is urgent for Vietnam to calm down and respect China's sovereignty and jurisdiction rights and take measures to immediately stop all forms of violent actions.

It is hoped ASEAN members have a clear idea of the basic facts and work together with China to continue to safeguard the peace and stability of the South China Sea.

Vietnam needs to clearly know that one will "lift a rock only to drop it on its own feet" if challenging the Chinese government's peaceful development idea and determination to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Challenging will do no good in strengthening dialogue, mutual trust and coordination as well as jointly building a new Asia of peace, stability and cooperation.