Tensions over the South China Sea were reignited after Vietnam said it had submitted its stance on the dispute to the international arbitration tribunal reviewing the Philippines’ challenge against China’s claims.
Vietnam has asked the arbitration court to take into account its legal rights and interests in the disputed sea region, spokesman Le Hai Binh, said in a foreign ministry statement posted on its website yesterday. The country also refuted China’s claims to the Paracel and Spratly islands in the statement, which provoked a Chinese response yesterday that its neighbor’s claims were unlawful.
The renewed tensions are being sparked as the United Nations tribunal in the Hague considers Philippine’s challenge to China’s claim to much of the South China Sea as the island nation seeks to check Beijing’s bid for control of waters rich in oil, gas and fish. Vietnamese and Philippine leaders say they are determined to oppose China’s move to control the sea region after China placed an oil rig, HYSY-981, in May off Vietnam’s coast.