Vietnam can file at least 2 lawsuits against China: lawyer - Institute for Maritime and Ocean Affairs

Accordingly, the Vietnamese government can challenge the Chinese government to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, while the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) can sue the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) – which operates the drilling platform – to a civil court in Vietnam, lawyer Hoang Ngoc Giao, head of the Research Institute for Policy, Law, and Development, told Tuoi Tre in a recent interview.

By planting the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 (HD 981) in Vietnamese waters in the East Vietnam Sea, China has violated Vietnam’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and continental shelf, and for this violation, Vietnam can sue China to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Giao said.

The tribunal was established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) to which China is a signatory, he added.