Vietnam opposes Chinese Taiwan’s live-fire drills in its territorial waters
VOV.VN -Vice Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra has voiced Vietnam’s strong objection to Chinese Taiwan’s live-fire drills in the territorial waters surrounding Ba Binh (Itu Aba) Island, which belongs to Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.
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| Vice Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Tra |
“Vietnam has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence proving its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa archipelagos. Taiwan’s live-fire drills in the sea area surrounding Ba Binh Island of Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago have seriously violated Vietnam’s territorial sovereignty over this archipelago, threatened peace, stability, safety, and security of navigation, caused tensions and complicated the situation in the East Sea,” she said.
“Once again, Vietnam resolutely objects and requests Taiwan not to repeat similar actions in the future,” the spokesperson noted.
Also at the press conference, concerning Monsanto’s court ruling of US$289 million of punitive damages for its failing to warn that its weed killer causes cancer, the deputy spokeswoman said that Vietnam supports the San Francisco jury’s order.
This serves as a precedent, rejecting earlier arguments that the herbicide produced by Monsanto and other US companies which were supplied to the US army during the Vietnam War, were harmless to human health.
Vietnam holds that Monsanto shall be responsible for paying damages to Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims.