Vietnam underlines paracel sovereignty

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh said that Vietnam underscored that it has sufficient historical evidence and legal foundations to prove its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos following US destroyer USS Decatur's travelling through waters in Vietnam's Paracel Archipelago on October 21. 

He noted that as a coastal country in the East Sea and a responsible member of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Vietnam respects other nations' exercising of their rights in the sea in accordance with the convention's regulations, including the freedom of navigation and overflight. Vietnam calls on all countries to make constructive contributions in line with international law to maintain peace, stability and the rule of law at sea and in the ocean