US condemns China’s firing of missiles in East Sea
The US Department of Defence has voiced concern about China’s recent decision to conduct military exercises, including the firing of ballistic missiles around Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (internationally known as Paracel) Archipelago in the East Sea.
Hanoi(VNA) – The US Department of Defence has voiced concern about China’s recentdecision to conduct military exercises, including the firing of ballisticmissiles around Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (internationally known as Paracel)Archipelago in the East Sea.
In a recent statement,the department said that conducting military exercises in the waters, alsoknown as the South China Sea, is counterproductive to easing tensions andmaintaining stability.
China’s actions,including missile tests, further destabilise the situation in the waters. Suchexercises also violate China’s commitments under the 2002 Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) to avoid activities that wouldcomplicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability, it said.
Thedepartment stated that the military exercise taking place from August 23-29 isthe latest in a long string of China’s actions to assert unlawful maritimeclaims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbours in the East Sea.
The departmentalerted China in July that the US would continue to monitor the situation withthe expectation that China will reduce its militarisation and coercion of its neighboursin the East Sea. But China chose to escalate its exercise activities by firingballistic missiles.
Earlier,the US blacklisted 24 Chinese companies for helping the Chinese militaryconstruct and militarise the internationally condemned artificial islands inthe East Sea./.
China’s organisation of consecutive military exercises in the waters to the north-northeast of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago has violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the archipelago, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang on August 26.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the US Department of Commerce (DOC) announced on August 26 that it added 24 Chinese companies to the Entity List for their involvement in the illegal construction of artificial islands in the East Sea.
Any activities in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago without the country’s permission are meaningless, spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry Le Thi Thu Hang said on August 27.
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
