SHANGHAI – China and Vietnam should refrain from unilateral actions regarding the South China Sea that could complicate the situation and magnify disputes, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi has told a Vietnamese official, said the Foreign Ministry in Beijing today.
State councillor Wang was speaking with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a visit to Vietnam, said the ministry in a statement.
China said it has historical sovereignty over most of the waterway, but its neighbours and the United States said the claim has no basis in international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which China is a signatory.
Wang said the two countries should cherish the hard-won peace and stability achieved in the South China Sea and be vigilant to resist the intervention of extraterritorial forces, said the ministry.
Yesterday, Vietnam said China will donate another three million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam this year, raising Beijing’s total donations to the Southeast Asian country to 5.7 million doses. – Reuters, September 11, 2021
