China has dispatched
another oil rig, Nan Hai Jiu Hao, to the East Vietnam Sea after illegally
placing the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling platform in Vietnamese waters since May
1, despite strong protest from Vietnam.
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The China’s
Hainan Jiu Hao oil rig
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In a notice on its
website on June 17, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) said the
new rig would be towed between June 18 and 20 by a tugboat from its existing
location, at 17°38' North latitude and 110°12.3' East longitude, to the new
location at 17°14.1' North latitude and 109°31' East longitude in the East
Vietnam Sea.
The new location is near
Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, a news website of Hong Kong-based
Phoenix Television, ifeng.com, reported on June 18.
It is unknown how long
the second rig, which is owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation
(CNOOC), will be placed in the East Vietnam Sea, according to ifeng.com.
As shown on the map, Nan
Hai Jiu Hao is to be located in the area off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin.
Vietnam and China are
negotiating to fix a line to delineate the maritime boundary between the two
countries in this gulf.
Nan Hai Jiu Hao, a semi-submersible
drilling rig, is 600 meters long and weighs 21,714 tons. It moves at four
nautical miles per hour, the MSA said.
The towing of the second
platform followed the visit of Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi who arrived
in Vietnam on Wednesday to discuss the first rig issue and bilateral
cooperation.
Yang left the country the
same day after meeting with high-ranking Vietnamese officials in Hanoi.
At the talk with Yang
yesterday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed that by placing
the Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig in the Vietnamese waters around Hoang Sa, China has
seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and the agreements reached between
leaders of both countries as well as broken international law, the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Declaration on the
Conduct of Parties in the East Vietnam Sea (DOC).
PM Dung requested that
China remove its rig and escorting ships from Vietnam’s waters and join talks
for the settlement of disputes and differences between the two countries by
peaceful measures based on international law and the common perception of the
two countries’ leaders.
Earlier the same day, at
a meeting with the Chinese official, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Pham Binh Minh firmly asserted Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa as well as
its sovereign right and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone and
continental shelf as defined by the 1982 UNCLOS to which both Vietnam and China
are signatories.
The Deputy PM demanded that
China withdraw its rig and guardian ships from Vietnam’s waters, control the
situation to prevent conflicts, and join talks for the settlement of current
tensions.
Source: tuoitre
