(VOVworld) - Vietnamese organizations in France issued a statement on January 18 condemning China’s flights to an illegally-built airstrip on Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reef in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.
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| A satellite photo of Fiery Cross Reef (Photo: CSIS) |
The statement stressed that the organizations, representing over 300,000 Vietnamese people and friends of Vietnam in France, resolutely opposed these flights. They made it clear that those dangerous actions by Beijing violate international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which prohibits any unilateral action to change the status quo in the region.
The statement calls upon the international community to condemn China’s provocative actions in the name of navigational freedom, regional stability, and global peace.
On January 2 and 6, China conducted test flights to the airstrip that it constructed illegally on Chu Thap Reef in Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago. In response to that action, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh emphasized that China’s actions infringe Vietnam’s sovereignty over Truong Sa archipelago.