Japan, Vietnam vow to settle maritime disputes - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

TOKYO – Japan and Vietnam on Friday reaffirmed their common position to settle maritime disputes through peaceful means based on international law.

“We welcome support by the Japanese government and parliament for Vietnam’s position to settle disputes through peaceful means based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and international law,” Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, part of which was open to the media.

The comment suggests Abe and Phuc exchanged views on China’s growing territorial ambitions in the South China Sea where Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries are locked in territorial disputes with Beijing.

Similarly, China has been pressing its territorial claims over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.