(VOVworld) - Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh on October 24 replied to reporters’ question about Vietnam’s reaction to the US’s USS Decatur navy destroyer sailing close to Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago on October 21.
 |
| The US’s USS Decatur navy destroyer (Source: VNA) |
He said Vietnam affirms that it has sufficient historical evidence and legal foundations to prove its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.
Binh noted that as a coastal country in the East Sea and a responsible member of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), Vietnam respects other nations’ exercising of their rights in the sea in accordance with the convention’s regulations, including the freedom of navigation and overflight. Vietnam calls on all countries to make constructive contributions in line with international law to maintain peace, stability and the rule of law at sea and in the ocean.