VN demands China stop flights to Fiery Cross Reef

January 13, 2016 | 16:06

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Viet Nam resolutely rejects the wrongful viewpoints of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman’s remarks on January 11 related to Chinese airplanes flying to the airstrip China illegally built on Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reef in Viet Nam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

Vietnamese FM Spokesman Le Hai Binh made that statement on January 12, reaffirming Viet Nam’s indisputable sovereignty over Truong Sa and Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.

Regarding China’s flight activities, the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam has repeatedly said that Viet Nam’s Ho Chi Minh Flight Information Region’s management agency has not received any notifications of flight plans from China as it said.

Earlier on December 30, 2015, when a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Ha Noi announced to a representative of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Chinese civil planes would launch flights to Fiery Cross Reef, Viet Nam immediately objected to, and demanded China cancel that action, Mr. Binh revealed.

China declaring the flights to Fiery Cross Reef as its “national aviation activities” is actually aimed at asserting its insensate sovereignty claim over Truong Sa archipelago, which seriously violates Viet Nam’s sovereignty over these islands, he added.

Otherwise, China’s flights to Fiery Cross Reef, under any name, affected aeronautical security, safety and freedom over the East Sea and in contrary to the international regulations, including the 1944 Chicago Convention (Convention on International Civil Aviation) and the annexes on rules of flights in international airspace, especially Annex 2 and 11.

Viet Nam demands China stop flights to Fiery Cross Reef, not conduct further actions that violate Viet Nam’s sovereignty, and make contribution to maintaining peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, he said.

VGP

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