Viet Nam resolutely rejects the viewpoints in the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman’s statement on January 11 regarding Chinese planes’ flights to an illegally built airstrip on Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reef in Viet Nam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

Spokesman for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Hai Binh made the remark on January 12, reiterating Viet Nam’s indisputable sovereignty over Truong Sa as well as Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.

In terms of China’s recent flights, as the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam has repeatedly said, the Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region’s management agency did not receive any notifications of flight plans from China as the country stated.

Spokesman for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Hai Binh (Photo: VNA)

When a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi announced to a representative of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on December 30, 2015, that Chinese civil planes would conduct flights to Fiery Cross Reef, Viet Nam immediately objected to, and demanded China cancel that action, Binh noted.

China declaring the flights to Fiery Cross Reef its own “national aviation activities” is actually aimed at asserting the country’s unfounded sovereignty claim over Truong Sa archipelago, which seriously infringes Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the chain of islands, he added.

The spokesman said China’s flights to Fiery Cross Reef, under any name, affected aviation security, safety and freedom over the East Sea and ran counter to international regulations, including the 1944 Chicago Convention (Convention on International Civil Aviation) and the annexes on rules of flights in international airspace, especially Annex 2 and 11.

“Once again, Viet Nam demands China stop flights to Fiery Cross Reef, not conduct further actions that violate Viet Nam’s sovereignty, and practically contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea,” he stressed.

(Source: VNA)