(VOVworld) – The 25^th meeting of states parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea was held in New York this week. 136 of the Convention’s 167 signatories attended the event, which approved reports on activities in 2014 of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Head of the Vietnamese mission to the UN, ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga said that the East Sea has abundant natural resources and has the second largest sea route in the world so it needs to be protected for sustainable exploitation. She said that Vietnam is concerned over current complicated developments in the East Sea, particularly large-scale land reclamation and construction activities, which destroy the marine ecosystem and environment and seriously affect peace, stability, and security in the region, causing great concerns in ASEAN and other countries outside the region. Ambassador Nga said that all activities to change the status quo, destroy the marine environment, and further complicate disputes in the East Sea must be halted immediately.

She also reiterated Vietnam’s stance that all disputes in the East Sea should be settled through peaceful means inline with international law, including UNCLOS and that all parties should fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and quickly adopt a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).