Vietnam on Thursday asked the Philippines' authorities to strictly handle the case of a group of Filipino protesters tearing the Vietnamese national flag in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Manila.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng answers reporters' questions at Thursday press conference in Hanoi.
The protests were staged following reports in the Philippines' local media of Vietnam's alleged 'militarisation' in the South China Sea, which Vietnam called the East Sea and the Philippines called the West Philippines Sea.
"The red flag with a yellow star is the sacred national flag of Vietnam," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng told the press on Thursday in Hanoi.
"The act of vandalising the Vietnamese national flag is an insult to the feelings of the Vietnamese people and must be severely condemned," Hằng said.
"We request the Philippines' side to strictly handle the case, taking effective measures to prevent this behaviour from occurring, which could affect the development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the diplomat said.
She also said the foreign ministry has no information on the source of the news articles, which the Philippines' local media cited from an alleged document of the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence.
Vietnam is enjoying thriving relations with the Philippines, as Vietnam remains the only country in ASEAN (and one of the two countries in the world) with which the Philippines has a Strategic Partnership.
In this week's trip to Vietnam by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Manulo, the two sides have agreed to bolster cooperation in maritime and ocean issues, as well as to improve coordination to handle arising issues at sea.
With regards to China's military exercises in the South China Sea between July 29 and August 2 that overlaps with Vietnam's Hoàng Sa (Paracel) archipelago, spokesperson Hằng said the inclusion has "seriously infringed upon Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands."
The act goes against the spirit of the Declarations of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), complicates the situation and is not conducive to the ongoing negotiations between Vietnam and between China and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (COC), and the maintenance of a peaceful, stable, and cooperative maritime environment.