Participants take a group photo at the conference. (Photo: Trung Hieu)
“Cooperation for regional security and development”
was the topic of the 11th South China Sea International Conference which
opened in the capital city of Ha Noi on November 6.
Co-hosted by the Diplomatic Academy of
Vietnam (DAV), Foundation for East Sea Studies (FESS) and Vietnam
Lawyers Association (VLA), the two-day event brought together more than
50 speakers and some 250 officials, scholars and diplomats of Vietnam
and foreign countries.
In his opening remarks, VLA President
Nguyen Van Quyen said the conference was a chance for domestic and
foreign lawyers to share measures to maintain peace and security in the
region. The VLA has an increasingly significant voice in security
matters, including the East Sea issues, he said.
Meanwhile, DAV President Nguyen Vu Tung
said since it was initiated 10 years ago, the conference has become an
important event on the East Sea where experts and scholars who are
interested in maritime security and the East Sea in particular to share
their information and ideas. After its 10 editions, the conference has
received more than 350 reports from leading experts and scholars, and
welcomed over 2,000 delegates, he said.
Although cooperation for development
remains a common trend between the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and its partners, there are concerns over growing
tensions, violations of sovereignty and threats to use force in the East
Sea, Tung stressed.
Speaking at the opening ceremony,
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said the
East Sea has the most important and busiest shipping routes in the
world. As a bridge connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as
well as the Asian and Oceania continents, over 50 percent of the world’s
marine trade worth 5 trillion USD each year has been transported
through the East Sea, hence, security and safety of navigation in the
waters are of great importance to the global trade and prosperity, he
said.
The East Sea also plays an important
role in strategic initiatives of world powers such as the US, China,
Japan, Australia, India and the ASEAN, Trung said, adding that all
developments in the East Sea have attracted attention from not only
regional nations but also the whole international community.
The Deputy Minister highlighted the
importance of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS), describing it as the UN’s “Charter on oceans” with the
participation of 168 members. The 1982 UNCLOS created a legal framework
for the preservation and sustainable use of oceans and marine resources
as recognised in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by
UN member states in 2015, he said.
Based on the 1982 UNCLOS, many practical
cooperation activities at the regional and global levels have been
carried out to cope with common challenges such as climate change, sea
level rise, decreased aquatic resources and plastic waste as well as
other challenges like security and safety of navigation and aviation,
piracy and armed crime, according to the Deputy Minister.
The 1982 UNCLOS is also a leading
foundation for the settlement of claims on overlapping sea areas and the
demarcation of seas among countries, he stressed.
Vietnam, Canada and the European Union
(EU) will co-organise a workshop on the enforcement of the 1982 UNCLOS
and emerging marine issues within the framework of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) in Hanoi next week, Trung told the participants.
Trung expressed his belief that
maintaining peace and stability and promoting cooperation in the East
Sea are not only the interests and responsibilities of regional nations
but also the interests and responsibilities of the whole international
community.
He expected that the conference would
put forth measures to ensure the efficiency of the 1982 UNCLOS and the
respect for law; to maintain the important role of multilateral
mechanisms such as the UN and ASEAN in fostering regional cooperation;
and to step up international cooperation in dealing with urgent issues
at sea, including disputes over sovereignty and sovereignty rights, and
ensuring livelihoods for coastal residents.
The annual conference will include six
plenary and six roundtable sessions, focusing on various themes such as
the South China Sea state of affairs: threats, risks and opportunities;
the South China Sea in competing visions; the South China Sea in
multilateral forums; incident prevention and confidence building; and
strengthening foundation for peace and rules-based order.
As part of the conference, a special
session will be held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the entry into
force of the 1982 UNCLOS which has been the bedrock of the rules-based
order at sea over the past 25 years.
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