Maintaining peace, security and stability in the East Sea is the mutual benefit and shared responsibility of all the countries, including the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, said vice spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Phuong Tra on 22 November.

Vice spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Phuong Tra (Photo: VNA)

She made the statement at the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi, in response to reporters’ queries regarding China’s remark of completing the negotiations on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea within the next three years.

“Accordingly and in face of the complicated developments in the recent past, ASEAN has repeatedly urged for the early finalisation of the COC in the East Sea. It is most important to achieve an effective, substantive, and binding COC in line with international law – especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – thus making real contributions to peace, stability and security in the region in general and the East Sea in particular”, Tra continued.

(Source: VNA/ DA NANG Today)