"It is more urgent than ever that ways be sought to settle disputes and address challenges involving peace and stability in the East Sea," said Associate Professor Dr Duong Van Quang, director of the Viet Nam Academy of Diplomacy yesterday, Nov 26.
Professor Quang was opening an international symposium on the East Sea in Ha Noi yesterday.
The East Sea
Participants agreed that the East Sea, with its huge natural resources and tremendous role in shipping, was of strategic significance in maintaining security and economic growth not only for countries around it, but also nations outside the region.
The East Sea, therefore, was of great importance to prosperity, peace and security in the region and the rest of the world, they said.
At the two-day forum, notes were compared by researchers and scholars who have approached East Sea issues from different points, including legal, political science and international relations.
Participants noted that disputes on territorial rights had inclined to rise, pointing out that actions aimed at affirming legal sovereignty and unilateral acts to strengthen control of territorial fields and claim energy and other resources had made the situation more complicated.
Conflicting national interests and the history of protracted disputes in the East Sea, different interpretations of the 1982 Law of the Sea, reports on the extended continental shelf, competition between powerful countries, more entities entering the sea, intensified naval forces and sea sovereignty based on nationalism were cited as the main reasons behind a situation that was becoming more and more complicated. This made the settlement of agreements more difficult, they said.
However, they also noted that there had been some signals showing that concerned parties wanted to ease tension and seek co-operation in areas involving the East Sea, citing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) reached by ASEAN member states and China, co-operation in scientific research, rescue, and others.
They put stress on the need to step up joint efforts towards preventing crises, building co-operative mechanisms, handling non-traditional security challenges and organising more symposiums for experience exchange and learning from other regions.
The symposium, which continues today, focuses on the East Sea’s important role in maintaining regional peace and security as well as its position in the strategy of countries concerned, the recent development of regional disputes and their causes and an assessment of these developments towards regional peace and security.
Participants also evaluated the efficiency of existing mechanisms in reining in tensions and accelerating co-operation, analysing co-operative models and recommending measures to increase trust and to solve disputes.
The symposium is being attended by 54 delegates from 22 countries, plus 96 representatives from Vietnamese agencies. It is being held by
the Viet Nam Diplomacy Academy and the Viet Nam Lawyers’ Association.
The forum has also attracted several representatives from foreign embassies in Ha Noi.
