Academics analyse East Sea disputes in international seminar

Hanoi, October 10 (VNA) – Experts from Vietnam, Germany, the US, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines are coming together at an international seminar in Hanoi to discuss sovereignty disputes in the East Sea and their multidimensional impacts. The two-day event, starting on October 9, is co-organised by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Hanoi National University and the German political foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Scholars will present peaceful and cooperative approaches to the issue, in line with the United Nations Charter, international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC). Addressing the seminar, Assoc. Prof. Dr Phung Xuan Nha, Director of the Hanoi National University, said the East Sea recently became a hotspot of sovereignty disputes in the Asian-Pacific region, along with the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea. Due to the East Sea’s important political and economic position, and the increasing interdependence within the region, disputes in the East Sea are an issue for the Asian-Pacific region and the world at large, he said. China’s recent unilateral acts of provocation affected the regional and global arenas in a number of fields, including security, cooperation, development, maritime freedom and the world order in general, he added. On this occasion, Nha hailed the important contributions Vietnamese and international academics made to regional peace and security by providing scientific facts and truthful lines of argumentation. According to the director, as a member of ASEAN, Vietnam consistently affirms its wish to solve East Sea disputes peacefully, without the use and threat of force, and in compliance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The country will increase its collaboration with ASEAN on the issue, since the bloc plays a central role in regional security and is pushing for the conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he said.-VNA