Vietnam leader wants Party to consider East Sea issues, prepare nation for ‘challenges’

Vietnam's party chief Nguyen Phu Trong at the opening of the 11th plenum of the 12th Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party, October 7, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Nhat Bac.

Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has called on the Central Committee to “analyze the situation in the East Sea” and prepare for “possible challenges.”

Trong, who is also the country’s president, was speaking Monday morning at the ongoing 11th plenary meeting of the committee, the highest authority within the Communist Party of Vietnam.

He also said the committee has to foresee what could happen in the coming time in the East Sea, also known as the South China Sea, to get the nation "prepared for possible opportunities and challenges."

Earlier this month foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Vietnam is in the process of verifying reports that a Chinese deepwater oil rig has been deployed in the East Sea. On September 25 the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China had said Haiyang Shiyou 982 has been deployed in the sea.

The announcement did not mention the rig’s specific location, but unconfirmed reports have said it has been operating since September 21 in a spot that is 3,000 m deep.

Meanwhile, Chinese oil survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 and its escort vessels continue to expand operations in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Vietnam has said this action seriously violates its sovereignty and jurisdiction rights conferred by UNCLOS, to which both Vietnam and China are parties.

Also on the plenum’s agenda are other issues like a report on the implementation of a political program launched in 2011 to develop the nation with a socialist orientation.

Trong also referred to issues related to socio-economic development and sought reports on the accomplishments so far.

Discussions at the meeting, which is scheduled to last until Sunday, are expected to set out guidelines for Vietnam's socio-economic development in the next decade.

By Hoang Thuy / VnExpress