(VOVworld) – Vietnam, the Philippines and the US have reacted to China’s recent acts concerning the East Sea. On Friday Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi answered reporters’ related questions: “These acts by the Chinese side is illegal and invalid, severely infringing Vietnam’s  sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes and Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction in the East Sea under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China’s acts do not match the agreement on the basic principles guiding the settlement of the issues on the sea between Vietnam and China and are against the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) between ASEAN and China and further complicate the situation in the East Sea. Vietnam demands that China cancel such wrongful acts and make realistic contributions to maintaining regional peace and stability”.

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi

The Philippine’s Foreign Affairs Department on its Friday statement urged China “to immediately clarify the new fisheries law issued by the Hainan Provincial People’s Congress.”  The department said that China’s fishing rule escalates tensions, unnecessarily complicates the situation in the East Sea and threatens the peace and stability of the region.

The US State Department on Thursday called the move a “provocative and potentially dangerous act”.

Recently, the Hainan Provincial People’s Congress approved a draft revision on implementing fisheries laws which has taken effects since January 1, 2014. The new measure bans foreign fishing activities in the East Sea. On December 24, 2013, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture issued a notice on  the timeframe for ceasing fishing using fishing nets in some areas that belong Vietnam’s sovereignty and sovereign right in the East Sea. China also recently launched a website and a print newspaper of the so-called “Sansha City”, and upgraded a meteorological station in islets belonging to the Truong Sa archipelago.