East Sea issue spotlighted at international seminar

International law should be applied to solve the East Sea issue, many foreign scholars said at a seminar held in New York from March 13 to 15 by the Asia Society and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Themed “East Sea: Central Factor of Peace and Security in the Asia-Pacific”, the seminar saw the participation of leading scholars and lawyers from the US, Singapore, China, the Philippines and Vietnam.

During the event, participants focused discussions on four main sub issues including the historical origin of the East Sea disputes; the US-China relations in the East Sea; roles of the international law and governance, ASEAN’s stance on the East Sea and impacts on regional peace and security; and lessons and proposals for policy-makers.

In her presentation, Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha, Head of the International Law and Treaties Department of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, affirmed that Vietnam always wants to settle disputes at the East Sea by peaceful means on the basis of respecting international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

(VNA)