Vanguard Bank is a reef off Vietnam's south central coast. Photo by AFP/File.
Experts say there are geological, geographical and legal grounds to prove the Tu Chinh (Vanguard) Bank is indisputably Vietnamese territory.
Both geologically and geographically, the Tu Chinh-Vung May
(Vanguard-Rifleman) banks belong to Vietnam's continental shelf,
Associate Professor Nguyen Chu Hoi, former deputy head of the Vietnam
Administration of Sea and Islands, said at a conference in Hanoi Monday.
The continental shelf refers to ledges projecting from the land into and
under the sea, and the basic principle is that it is a continuation of
land territory into the sea. As such, it is not geographically a part of
Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands, Hoi said.
He explained that geographically, there exists a large trench running
along the northeast-southwest axis in the deep-water structure of the
East Sea. Upon reaching the waters off Da Nang, it runs parallel to
Vietnam's coast before running northeast toward Scarborough Shoal and
into the Pacific Ocean. This trench therefore separates the Spratly
Islands from Vietnam's continental shelf, where the Vanguard and
Rifleman banks are, Hoi added.
He added that the trench, which is up to 4,000 meters deep, forms a
2,000-square-kilometer undersea where the international sea route passes
through and is 36 kilometers (22 miles) from Vietnam's Con Dao Island.
In this plain, the Vanguard-Rifleman area is believed to have large
reserves of oil and gas.
Vanguard Bank is a coral reef that lies in the southern part of the East
Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, about 160 nautical
miles from the beach of Vietnam’s Vung Tau and about 600 nautical miles
from China’s Hainan Island.
Monday’s conference, titled "Vietnam's legal rights and interests in the
East Sea under international law," was organized by the Vietnamese
Communist Party's online newspaper and was attended by experts and
representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Communist
Party's Central Propaganda Department and the High Command of Vietnam
Coast Guard.
Hoi said that after looking through official documents of the
International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), a U.N.-recognized
authority on hydrographic surveying and nautical charting, as well as
other international geographic documents, he found no evidence showing
that the Vanguard-Rifleman banks were part of the Spratly Islands.
"If they say Tu Chinh Bank belongs to the Truong Sa Islands then this
proves there is a misunderstanding in terms of geography, geology and
the characteristics of the East Sea's seabed," he said.
The associate professor also said that Vietnam has made a joint
submission with Malaysia to the United Nations' Commission on the Limits
of the Continental Shelf for a possible expansion of the continental
shelf in two areas, including one in southeastern part of the East Sea.
"Therefore, Vietnam's continental shelf not only includes Tu Chinh but
also expands to the southeast, as stated in Vietnam's submission."
Dr. Tran Cong Truc, former head of the government's Border Committee,
noted that legally speaking, the Permanent Court of Arbitration had
ruled in 2016 that Vanguard Bank is not a part of the Spratly Islands.
The 2016 ruling was issued after the Philippines instituted arbitral
proceedings against China for misinterpreting and misapplying the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in order to
claim most of the South China Sea with its nine-dash line.
Speaking to VnExpress last July, Truc said the arbitration
court’s ruling stated that banks that are far away from the Spratly
Islands and separated from it by coral reefs cannot be counted as part of the Spratly Islands.
As Vietnam's Tu Chinh (Vanguard), Huyen Tran (Alexandra) and Phuc Nguyen
(Prince Consort) banks all meet these criteria, they are not part of
the Spratly Islands, Truc said.
In southern part of the East Sea, including areas around Tu Chinh, Qua
Duong (Grainger) and Huyen Tran banks, Vietnam has been constructing a
series of rigs and carrying out oil and gas exploration and exploitation
activities.
This is in line with regulations on the rights and duties of coastal
states as stated under articles 60 and 80 of UNCLOS, which give Vietnam
the exclusive right to construct and to authorize and regulate the
construction, operation and use of artificial islands, installations and
structures for economic purposes in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
and continental shelf.
The experts' claims reaffirmed an October 3 statement by foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang, that Tu Chinh Bank belongs to Vietnam and is not a disputed feature.
Hang made the statement following reports that Chinese oil survey vessel
Haiyang Dizhi 8 and escorts had been operating illegally in Vietnam’s
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf in the southern part
of East Sea since early July.
In the statement, she flatly dismissed her Chinese counterpart's claim
that the reef belongs to China and Vietnam must stop oil and gas
exploitation activities there.
Discussing Vietnam's possible responses, Truc recommended that Vietnam
carefully studies its options if it plans to sue China. Hanoi needs to
have a thorough preparation of documents and have a team of lawyers that
are fluent in foreign languages and capable of debating in
international courts.
He said: "We should not make generic statements and exhortations."
Hoi said Vietnam needs to resolutely pursue its rights in accordance
with international law and respect UNCLOS's regulations. The country
must also support its fishermen so they are able to continue staying in
the sea, connect with each other and carry out their rights.
He stressed: "Vietnam needs to prove to the international community that we may be a small country but we are not weak."
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