Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry has protested a recent anti-piracy exercise carried out by China’s eighth naval escort flotilla at the Truong Sa Archipelago (Spratly Islands).

This military exercise at the Truong Sa archipelago seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the islands and went against the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry representative yesterday said at a meeting with representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi.

The Vietnamese official reiterated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes and requested China should refrain from actions which could further complicate the situation, and instead join ASEAN countries in implementing the DOC as well as contributing to maintaining peace in the East Sea .

On February 25, China’s Xinhua News Agency ran a news story, saying the eighth escort flotilla of the Chinese Navy conducted an anti-piracy drill at the Truong Sa archipelago one day earlier.

Source: VNA/Tuoi Tre