China conducts military drills in South China Sea, Vietnam protests

Vietnam’s international ministry has lodged a grievance with China over military drills in the South China Sea that it stated had been “detrimental” to Beijing’s relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Vietnam and the Philippines warned of rising insecurity in Southeast Asia at a regional summit final Friday, amid considerations that China was utilizing the duvet of the coronavirus pandemic as a way to step up its exercise in the disputed waterway.

On Wednesday, China started 5 days of drills in waters close to the Paracel Islands, the place Vietnam has competing claims, in keeping with a June 27 announcement by the Maritime Safety Administration of Hainan, a big provincial island off China’s southern coast.

“China’s drills around (the Paracels) seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty”, international ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang informed a daily briefing on Thursday.

The drills “further complicate the situation, and are detrimental to the relationship between China and ASEAN,” she added.

Hang stated Vietnam had contacted China and delivered a diplomatic notice opposing the drills.

“We request that China refrain from repeating similar actions in the South China Sea,” she stated.

The United States has additionally known as on China to cease its “bullying behaviour” in the South China Sea, and accused Beijing of utilizing the Covid-19 pandemic as cowl to push its territorial claims there with a surge in naval exercise.

In early April, Vietnam stated considered one of its fishing boats was sunk by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel. China stated that Vietnam’s claims in South China sea are unlawful and “doomed to fail”.

ALSO READ | How China channelled Galwan river to assert territory

ALSO READ | India asserts itself on South China Sea concern

ALSO WATCH | China’s aggression at LAC confirmed true nature of Chinese Communist Party: US