Vietnam, Philippines criticise Chinese military drills in South China Sea
- The Philippines said China’s exercises near the Paracel Islands were ‘highly provocative’ while Vietnam said they violate its sovereignty
- Hanoi and Manila warned of growing insecurity in Southeast Asia at an Asean summit last week, amid concerns that China is advancing its territorial claims
Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said China’s exercises in the waters near the Paracel Islands were “highly provocative”, while Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry called them a violation of sovereignty that could be “detrimental” to Beijing’s relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Vietnam and the Philippines have been the most vocal regional opponents to what they see as Chinese overreach in the South China Sea and its disregard for boundaries outlined in international maritime law.
China claims historical jurisdiction over about 80 per cent of the sea.
Hanoi and Manila warned of growing insecurity in Southeast Asia at an Asean summit last Friday, amid concern, including from the United States, that China was using the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to step up naval activities and advance its territorial claims.
Even though the Philippines has no claim to the Paracels, Lorenzana said China holding exercises beyond its own waters was not acceptable.
“That is very concerning, we view that with alarm,” he told a security forum.
“Doing it in the contested areas then that will, you know, sound the alarm bells for all the claimants,” he said. “That’s highly provocative.”
Asean sticks to 1982 UN treaty in South China Sea dispute
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to China to oppose exercises that “seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty”, spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a regular briefing.
The drills “further complicate the situation, and are detrimental to the relationship between China and Asean”, she said.
Vietnam said in April that one of its fishing boats was sunk by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel. China called Vietnam’s maritime claims illegal and “doomed to fail”.
