As the Prime Minister said, in 1974 China occupied the whole Hoàng Sa archipelago by force (at that time under the management of the former Saigon administration). The administration of the Republic of Vietnam at that time lodged strong protest and condemned this action on the part of China and brought it up at the United Nations with the proposal that the UN should intervene in it. The provisional revolutionary government of South Vietnam at that time had also issued its statement in protest against this occupational action.

“The consistent standpoint of Vietnam is that the Hoàng Sa archipelago belongs to Vietnam’s sovereignty. We have got the full legal and historical evidences to reaffirm this. However we have always advocated for negotiation to settle the issue, demanding our sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa archipelago by peaceful means. This policy is in conformity with the UN Charter, with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea” – the Prime Minister further said.


As far as the Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelago is concerned, as the Prime Minister clarified, in 1975, the naval force of Vietnam had taken over five islands from the management of the former Saigon administration. After that we continued in a capacity of the owner of the archipelago to expand our sovereignty over 21 more islands with 33 garrisons. On the other hand, Vietnam had also built 15 houses in the rig structures to reaffirm our sovereignty over this sea area within 200 nautical miles on the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

“So, on the Trường Sa archipelago, Vietnam is the State that has got the greatest number of occupied islands. Vietnam is also the only State that has got its inhabitants working and living on a number of islands, in which there are 6 people being born and grown up on these islands” – the Prime Minister further stressed.

As reaffirmed by the Prime Minister, Vietnam has advocated to seriously implementing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the principles of the agreement signed recently with China. Vietnam has requested all the parties concerned to keep the status quo without complicating further the situation, thus affecting peace and security in the region. Vietnam will also continue to invest in improving the economic and social infrastructure and the material and technical basis in the areas it has occupied so as to be able to improve the people’s life there and intensify the possibilities of self-defense of the people on the Trường Sa archipelago.

As for the navigation on the East Sea, Vietnam will seriously implement and request the parties concerned to do the same in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the DOC Declaration as having to guarantee peace, stability, security, order and freedom of navigation on the East Sea. This standpoint of Vietnam has earned the support of the international community, and of the recent ASEAN Summit and the ASEAN Summit with its partners.

Also in the Question and Answer meeting, Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng dealt with the necessity of the Law on Demonstration just for the fact that in the present day, there are crowded gatherings and demonstrations expressing the people’s aspirations and ideas and petitions toward the authorities, but Vietnam is yet to have the Law on Demonstration to adjust this state of affairs. So it is difficult not only for the people to implement their rights as stipulated in the Constitution, but also for the administration to control it. It is therefore leading to a number of spontaneous gatherings that have caused disorders, doing harm to social life.

The Government has forwarded its petition to the National Assembly to consider and include it into the law-making programme so that Vietnam can have the Law on Demonstration which will be in conformity with the Constitution, to the specific historical and cultural conditions of Vietnam and with the international practices, thus guaranteeing the people’s right to freedom and democracy. On the other hand, the Law will also help stop the actions that could do harm to the social security and order and to the people’s interests.

The Prime Minister also stressed that the consistent policy of the Party and State of Vietnam is to respect and commend the actions which are for the benefits of the country, for the patriotic goal to safeguard the national sovereignty. But at the same time any action of taking advantage of patriotism to do harm to the national and social interests will be severely punished./.