Lam Dong (VNA) – The 18th ASEAN-China Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) on the implementation of theDeclaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) was held in Da Latcity, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on October 15.

The Vietnamese delegation to the event was led by Deputy Foreign MinisterNguyen Quoc Dung, head of SOM ASEAN-Vietnam.

On October 13-14, the 30th meeting of the ASEAN-China Joint WorkingGroup on the implementation of the DOC was also organised in Lam Dong province.

These meetings spent a lot of time discussing the complicated developments inthe East Sea, especially ongoing incidents in Vietnam’s exclusive economiczone.

The countries expressed their concern that the present tensions could increasethe risk of conflicts if allowed to last for a long time, thus threateningregional peace, security and stability.

ASEAN member countries stressed the principles of self-restraint, non-militarization,taking no actions that may complicate the situation and increase tensions, notusing force or threatening to use force, and peaceful settlement of disputes onthe basis of international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Lawof the Sea.

The meetings consented to continue with efforts to ensure the full andeffective implementation of the DOC, with priority given to trust-building measuresand cooperation in handling common challenges such as marine environmentprotection and humanitarian treatment towards farmers.

Regarding negotiations of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), thecountries applauded the completion of the first round of review of the draft,and agreed on the need to step up efforts to build an effective andresult-oriented code that can prevent complicated incidents like thosehappening at present.

This requires thorough preparations for the next negotiations in a bid to reachconcrete and practical results, they said, focusing their discussions on newworking methods to be applied in the next talks.

Addressing the meetings, the Vietnamese side shed light on the complexdevelopments in the East Sea, particularly the serious violation of Vietnam’ssovereignty and jurisdiction, and highlighted the country’s stance andviewpoints based on international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.

China’s violations have been adversely affecting regional peace and security,and hindering COC negotiations, a Vietnamese representative said.

Vietnam reiterated its commitment to DOC implementation and COC building, andunderlined that it is urgent to build an effective and binding COC that conformswith international law and 1982 UNCLOS in order to prevent similar incidents inthe future.

Vietnam also proposed many measures to renew the working style in the nextnegotiations, such as focusing on dealing with policy issues and enhancing therole of senior officials in instructing and orienting negotiations./.