The territorial disputes in East Sea was the centre of discussions at a conference titled ‘ASEAN Maritime Space Management – Ideas for Argentina’, which was held on May 20 at the Interamerican Open University (UAI) in Argentina’s capital city of Buenos Aires.
Argentine political and geopolitical experts and Southeast Asian countries’ ambassadors to Argentina examined various aspects of what has been happening in the East Sea.
Ambassadors from Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea is a righteous concern to many countries.
They underlined the need for the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) as well as the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct (COC), adding that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be responsible for and take the initiative in preventing the escalation of disputes in the East Sea.
Vietnam’s Ambassador to Argentina, Nguyen Dinh Thao, clarified that Vietnam has full historical and legal evidence to prove its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.
He reiterated Vietnam’s stance of solving disputes in East Sea via peaceful measures based on international law.
On his part, the Philippines’ ambassador to Argentina, Maria Amelita Aquino, slammed China’s groundless ‘nine-dot line’ claim as well as its ambitions in East Sea.
She also mentioned the legal case in which the Philippines sues China on violating the UNCLOS at the United Nations’ Arbitration Court by occupying Scarbourough Shoal and preventing the Philippines from exercising legal rights in its special economic zone.