30 political and mass organizations inside and outside Vietnam send complaint to the United Nations Security Council about China’s aggressive actions towards the Spratly Islands.
July 16, 2008
United Nations Security Council
C/o Honorable Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017 – USA
Honorable Members of the UN Security Council,
We represent a number of Vietnamese political parties and mass organizations, both inside and outside of Vietnam, joined by independent Vietnamese personalities who would like to specially call to the attention of the UN Security Council the provocations and aggressive actions that the People’s Republic of China has taken towards two archipelagoes in Vietnam’s Eastern Sea (aka South China Sea). Specifically, these actions are:
1. On 19 January 1974, the Chinese Navy blatantly took over the Paracel Islands belonging to the then Republic of Vietnam. Seventy-one Vietnamese naval personnel lost their lives and another 28 were wounded as a result of this aggression. The Chinese occupation of these islands has lasted to this day.
2. On 14 March 1988, China made another aggressive move by occupying some major islands in the Spratly Islands belonging to Vietnam. In this encounter, 64 Vietnamese personnel were killed and another 11 wounded.
3. In early December 2007, China created the district of Sansha in Hainan Province to administer three archipelagoes in Vietnam’s Eastern Sea/South China Sea, including the Paracel and Spratly Islands. With this action, China sought not only to perpetuate its illegal occupation of many islands belonging to Vietnam but also to unlawfully annex these islands to Chinese territory.
The above shows that for the last 34 years, China has elected to follow a policy of aggression towards Vietnam, causing many losses of lives and great damage to the sovereignty and natural resources of the Vietnamese people. Besides the above-named actions, the Chinese navy has also on numerous occasions shot at and killed unarmed Vietnamese fishermen in Vietnam’s Eastern Sea/South China Sea, sometimes even in Vietnamese territorial waters.
These actions are obviously unacceptable as they directly violate the principles of peaceful conduct advocated in the United Nations Charter while they seriously threaten the stability and peace in the area. Unless they are condemned and checked by the UN Security Council, it can safely be predicted that China will continue its hegemonistic and expansionist policy in Southeast Asia and in the rest of the world.
What is regrettable is that the current government of Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is unable or unwilling to bring this serious matter to the attention of the world. Because of this, we would like to urgently appeal to you, Honorable Members of the UN Security Council, to raise this issue—an issue of importance to the whole region and affecting the security of sea lanes in the South China Sea, thus impacting vital supply lines to the economy of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea—so as to stop China’s aggression and lay the foundations for an equitable solution to this international conflict.
As representatives of the peace and justice-loving people, we believe that peace without justice shall never be secured. We, therefore, only wish to enlist your help and the international community’s attention to this gross inequity that China has imposed on our country.
Thank you very much for your consideration of this matter. Should you need more evidence, we stand ready to meet with you and present them in more detail and with all concrete dates and facts.
Sincerely yours,
Signatories
Political Organizations
- Dai Viet Revolutionary Party (Nguyen van Lung, Vice Chairman)
- Dai Viet Nationalist Party (Phan Van Song, Chairman)
- The People’s Democratic Party (Do, Thanh Cong – Spokesperson)
- New Dai Viet Party (Nguyen Ngoc Sang, Chairman)
- Vietnam Populist Party (Nguyen Cong Bang, Representative)
- Alliance for Democracy in Vietnam (Nguyen Quoc Nam, Chairman of the Executive Committee)
- National Congress of Vietnamese Americans (Nguyen Ngoc Bich, Chairman)
- Vietnam Restoration Party (Tran Quoc Bao, Chairman)
- Viet Tan Party (Do Hoang Diem, Chairman)
- Vietnam National Party (Tran Tu Thanh, Chairman, Overseas Coordinating Council)
- 8406 Bloc, Vietnam (Rev. Phan Van Loi, Representative)
- Vietnam Democracy and Human Rights Alliance (Do Nam Hai, Representative)
- Twenty First Century Democratic Party of Vietnam (Tran Khue, Representative)
- Vietnam Democratic Organization (Pham Hoang, Chairman)
- The International Committee to Support the Non-Violent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam (Nguyen The Binh, Representative)
Specialized Organizations
- Vietnam Human Rights Network (Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trang, President)
- The Vietnamese Laity Movement in the Diaspora (Mr. Do Nhu Dien, Coordinator)
- Saigon for Saigon Movement (Rev. Nguyen Huu Le, Representative)
- Vietnam Center for Human Rights, Paris (Tran Thanh Hiep, President)
- International Institute for Vietnam (Doan Viet Hoat, Chairman)
- Vietnamese Community in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia (Ly Van Phuoc, President)
- Federation of Association of Former Vietnamese Political Prisoners (Nguyen Trung Chau, Chairman)
- Federation of South Vietnam Police Associations in Europe (Pham Thin, President)
- Association for Constitutional Reforms in Vietnam (Dao Tang Duc, President)
- European Central Committee of the Assembly of Former Members of the Armed Forces (Hoang Co Lan, President)
- North East Regional Coordinating Center, Assembly of the RVN Veterans (Doan Huu Dinh, President)
- A Call For Democracy” Committee (Pham Dong Cac, Representative)
- Union of Former Members of the Armed Forces and Administration of the Republic of Vietnam in Holland (Le Quang Ke, Representative)
- Vietnamese Community in Australia (Nguyen The Phong, Chairman)