Chinese ship fires water cannon at Vietnamese vessel (Photo: VNA)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) on June 6 expressed their deep concerns about the East Sea tension caused by China’s illegal dispatch of the Haiyang Shiyou-981 drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters.

They called on all parties concerned to exercise the utmost restraint and settle the dispute by peaceful means and respect international law.

Meanwhile, the Argentina-Vietnam Culture Institute (ICAV) has expressed solidarity with Vietnamese people over China ’s provocative acts in the East Sea , and voiced its hope that the current tension between the two countries will be settled through peaceful means.

In a message sent to Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations Vu Xuan Hong, ICAV Chairwoman Poldi Sosa Schmidt shared her deep concern about the China ’s illegal placement of its oil rig inside Vietnam ’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, violating the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Poldi confirmed that these acts show that Beijing wants to flex its muscles to the international community and seek to control the archipelagos in dispute with its neighbouring countries. However, such behaviour has incurred strong protest and condemnation from peace-loving people across the world, she said.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Secretary of International Relations of the Communist Party of Argentina, Jorge Alberto Kreyness, expressed his belief that Vietnam and China will solve the dispute peacefully, on the basis of respecting international law, particularly the UNCLOS.

Meanwhile, Ezequiel Ramoneda, coordinator of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Argentina’s La Plata National University has advocated Vietnam’s stance on settling the dispute through dialogue. He commented that China’s deeds are politically motivated and have escalated tension and instability in the region.

Juan Carlos Minghetti from Center for Economic and Social Studies (CIEYS) said China’s illegal placement of its oil rig and its dispatch of warships and aircraft show that Beijing is seeking to address the dispute with a smaller country using military power.

At the beginning of May 2014, China illegally dispatched the rig as well as a large fleet of armed vessels, military ships and aircraft to Vietnam’s waters and positioned the rig at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 06 seconds east longitude. The location is 80 miles deep inside Vietnam ’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

China’s armed vessels aggressively fired high-power water cannons at and intentionally rammed against Vietnamese public-service and civil ships, causing damage to many boats and injuring many people on board.

Chinese ships have continuously encircled, constrained and driven away Vietnamese fishing boats and even injured Vietnamese fishermen, threatening their lives.

On May 27, China moved the rig to 15 degrees 33 minutes 22 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 36 seconds east longitude, 25 nautical miles from Tri Ton Island in Vietnam’s Hoang Sa archipelago and 23 nautical miles east-northeast from the old location.

On June 3, the oil rig moved yet again to another new position, at 15 degrees 33 minutes 36 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 11 seconds east longitude. The new position is still completely within Vietnam ’s continental shelf.

VNA