Vietnam claims Chinese map violates its sovereignty

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga made the statement in reply to reporters' questions on China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping's online world map which shows the nine-segment claim line encroaching on Viet Nam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos and its territorial waters.

"The act by China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping seriously violates Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, its sovereign right and national jurisdiction right over the continental shelf and the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone," Nga said.

It also violated the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and ran counter to the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, she added.

Vietnam wanted China to promptly remove data that violate Vietnam's sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction right over Viet Nam's Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and territorial waters, and observe the common views of the two countries' leaders on maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea, the spokeswoman said.