Hanoi turns up the heat in oil row with China
Hanoi turns up the heat in oil row with China
HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam's communist government turned up the
heat in a territorial and oil exploration row with its giant
northern neighbor yesterday, accusing China of violating
international laws and calling for urgent talks.
Amid signs of growing official frustration, a foreign ministry
spokesman in Hanoi said China's decision to position an oil rig
off Vietnam's central coast in early March could not be left to
routine border discussion channels.
He said Vietnam was calling therefore for an immediate and
unconditional meeting.
"We request an expert-level meeting at the soonest moment
without preconditions to discuss the issue," the spokesman said,
reading from a prepared statement.
"Using this opportunity, we would like to add that the
location (of the drilling rig) is not in the Tonkin Gulf area,"
he said, indicating that in Hanoi's view the matter fell outside
existing channels for discussing routine border issues.
The official Vietnam News Agency quoted a prominent lawyer
earlier as saying latest reports showed the Chinese vessels were
located 55 nautical miles off the nearest point of Vietnam's base
line and 71 miles off China's Hainan Island.
"The rig is definitely inside Vietnam's exclusive economic
zone and continental shelf," VNA quoted the lawyer, Luu Van Loi,
as saying.
He added that China's action placed it in violation of its
obligations under a 1982 UN Convention on Sea Law and called for
the immediate withdrawal of the rig and supporting vessels.
The dispute erupted earlier this month when Hanoi announced it
had protested to China over the positioning of the Kan Tan 111
exploration rig some 64.5 nautical miles off mainland central
Vietnam.
Beijing responded that the rig was in Chinese waters off
Hainan Island and that its activities were above reproach.
Vietnam in turn has counter-responded by seeking diplomatic
support from fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and using megaphone diplomacy, apparently as a means of
increasing pressure on China for early negotiations.
But a senior official with state oil firm Petrovietnam
indicated growing frustration with the matter yesterday and said
Hanoi would not consider a solution that involved a production-
sharing agreement with Beijing.
"Vietnam would never sign a contract on production-sharing
with China on its continental shelf," Petrovietnam information
center director Vu Van Mao told reporters at an oil and gas
conference in Ho Chi Minh City.
"If someone came to your country and drilled, and then asked
you to sign a contract, would you?"
Mao added there could be no comparison made with overlapping
maritime areas off Vietnam's southern coast, where sharing deals
have been set up with neighboring countries.
Vietnamese analysts contacted by Reuters yesterday indicated
similar frustration and said Beijing's outward silence over the
issue in recent days reflected the weakness of its claim to the
disputed area.