Vietnam asks China to pull drilling rig out of undelineated area

In response to reporters’ queries about the operation of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig and Vietnam’s reaction, Binh said in the evening of January 16, 2016, the Haiyang Shiyou 981 moved to a position around 21.4 nautical miles to the east from the suggested equidistant boundary line between the two base lines of Vietnam and China. 

On January 18, a representative from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry met a counterpart from the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi to raise Vietnam’s concern over China’s above-mentioned action, saying that it happened in the overlapping area between the continental shelves of Vietnam’s central region and China’s Hainan island which is yet to be delineated. 

Vietnam reserves its legitimate rights and interests in the area in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and related international realties, he stated.