ADVERTISEMENT

Vietnam Rejects China’s South China Sea Fishing Ban

Vietnam rejects China’s “unilateral decision” to ban fishing in the South China Sea from May 1 to August 16.

Vietnam Rejects China’s South China Sea Fishing Ban
Fishing trawlers sit anchored at Tan Quang harbor in Quang Nam province, Vietnam. (Photographer: Maika Elan/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam rejects China’s “unilateral decision” to ban fishing in the South China Sea from May 1 to August 16, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement posted on the government’s website.

Vietnam has sovereignty over its waters as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Hang said. “Vietnam asks China not to further complicate the situation in the South China Sea,” she said.

The Vietnam Fisheries Society earlier this week asked the government to take “strong action” against China’s fishing ban.

Vietnam in April charged a Chinese marine surveillance ship with sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat near the contested Paracel Islands.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.