HÀ NỘI, Vietnam — Any content containing information that violates Vietnam’s territory and sovereignty is “null and void,” said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lê Th Thu Hng at a press conference in Hà Ni on Thursday.
She was referring to the World Meteorological Organization’s social media post, which included the infamous ‘nine dash line’ map, which represented China’s expansive claims over much of the South China Sea’s waters, islands, reefs, and other geological features.
In the landmark Philippines v. China case, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a Hague-based international tribunal, ruled in 2016 that Beijing’s nine dash line has no legal basis; however, China has refused to recognize the authority of this court as well as its decisions.
“Viet Nam has repeatedly rejected the so-called nine dash line in the South China Sea, as well as other claims that violate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” Hng said.
“Viet Nam believes that all forms of image and content propagation that infringe on Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos, as well as Viet Nam’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over relevant waters in the South China Sea as established by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, are null and void,” she added.
According to the spokesperson, Vietnam demands that countries and organizations respect Viet Nam’s maritime sovereignty over the two Spratly archipelagos and relevant waters, as well as remove or amend offending content.
Hng told reporters that the Vietnamese mission to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and other international organizations in Geneva has discussed the issue with the World Meteorological Organization.
Source: VNS
