(VOVworld) - Professor Carlyle A. Thayer – a renowned expert on the East Sea from the Australian Defense Force Academy – stands in staunch opposition to the recent claims by two purported Chinese scholars that China’s sovereignty claims are legitimate. Immediately after a number of Australian newspapers published articles written by two Chinese researchers and diplomats saying that Vietnam does not have legal sovereignty claims over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, Professor Carlyle A. Thayer took issue with the views advanced. In a commentary, providing feedback to the editorial offices he rejected out of hand the views set forth in the articles, countering the false views as lacking a factual basis and being nothing more than unsubstantiated speculation and opinion. Concerning the article by Zhao Qinghai, Director of China Institute of International Studies’ Research Centre for Cooperation and Maritime Security, published in "the Australian Financial Review" last week, Thayer said that this commentary is not collaborated by academic research, but simply reiterates the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s policy. He voiced his strong opposition to Qinghai’s argument that international law sides with China, as oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 is located in China’s adjacent regions. He emphasized that the deployment of the rig, escorted by warships, in the East Sea is a serious violation of international law and China should respond positively to Vietnam’s continued request. Thayer also said that China is misinterpreting Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s 1958 diplomatic note and Qinghai is propagating false information about the fact.