China urged Vietnam yesterday to halt its unilateral oil and gas
development in waters with overlapping sovereignty claims and to stop harassing
Chinese vessels there to ensure that the ongoing maritime border talks can bear
fruit.
Beijing also refuted allegations
Hanoi made against Chinese fishing boats and said their dispersion by
Vietnamese warships in the disputed waters was groundless.
According to Viet Nam News,
PetroVietnam's geological survey vessel, the Binh Minh 2, was operating in
Vietnamese territorial waters at the end of November when it was approached by
a number of Chinese fishing vessels that cut its exploration cables, Xinhua
reported.
Beijing must "immediately
end this wrongdoing and not allow similar acts to reoccur", Luong Thanh
Nghi, Hanoi's ministry of foreign affairs spokesman, said on Tuesday, adding
that the incident "violated Vietnam's sovereignty".
During a daily news conference in
Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei rejected those assertions as
"not in accordance with the facts".
"The waters mentioned by the
Vietnamese are near the Beibu Gulf, in an area where China and Vietnam have
overlapping sovereignty claims, and the Chinese ships were conducting routine
fishing activity in those waters but were driven away by Vietnamese military
vessels," he said.
Hong confirmed that the two
countries are engaged in negotiations about the maritime border and joint
development of the waters.
"Vietnam should stop its
unilateral development of oil and gas in the areas and stop disturbing Chinese
fishing ships so as to create a favourable atmosphere for negotiations,"
Hong said.
Jia Duqiang, a researcher of
Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said
conflicts are inevitable in the disputed waters because Vietnam's interest in
the energy resources has been mounting in recent years.
"As both sides elaborate on
their plans for oil and gas development [in the waters], dialogue and
substantial contact become necessary," Jia said.
Beijing and Hanoi expressed hope
in a joint statement in 2005 that they would soon begin border talks on the
waters at the entrance of the Beibu Gulf.
On May 21 and 22, they held the
first round of negotiations in Hanoi on the border and joint exploitation of
the waters.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
Zhang Yunbi
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