On Monday, Vietnam officially expressed its disapproval of China’s decision to carry out an election in Sansha City on an island of Vietnam’s Paracel archipelago.
According to a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, VnExpress reports, by conducting an election and scheduling patrols in the disputed area, China has “seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the East Sea”.
Binh maintains that such illegal moves will not alter the fact that the contested Spratly and Paracel archipelagos belong to Vietnam, emphasizing at a press conference that the country has sufficient legal and historical proof to claim its ownership of the two island groups.
“Vietnam resolutely protests and asks that China respect Vietnam’s sovereignty, immediately putting an end to the above-mentioned illegal activities,” he shared at the conference.
Sansha City was founded in 2012 by China on an island of the Paracel archipelago. It is considered a prefecture-level city of Hainan province and administers the disputed areas.
[Photo via China Daily]
