Vietnam shouldn’t postpone legal fight against China till tomorrow: expert Vietnamese Prof. Dr. Mai Hong Quy (R, 1st), president of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, and Professor Alexander Yankov (M) speak to a Vietnamese expert during an international conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 26, 2014. T.T.D./Tuoi Tre Jeanne Mirer (L, 2nd) and Professor Alexander Yankov (R, 1st) are pictured during an international conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 26, 2014. T.T.D./Tuoi Tre China’s Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig became a hot topic during an international symposium held in Vietnam on Saturday despite the fact that drilling platform was moved out of the Southeast Asian country’s waters earlier this month.   More than 30 scholars and experts from many countries in the world together with a number of local pundits partook in the “Legal issues regarding the incident of China’s placement of oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 in Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf” conference in Ho Chi Minh City. “The conference aims to create a forum for scholars and experts in the region and in the world to exchange views on the legal issues relating to China’s placement of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig in the East Sea and provide satisfactory solutions for relevant parties to settle the problems and eventually settle conflict to preserve the East Sea as an area of peace, cooperation, and prosperity,” the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and the Vietnam Lawyers’ Association, the co-organizers, said. Most of the attendees said that China did not respect international law through its oil rig deployment and Vietnam should continue its legal fight against its big neighbor in order to assert the country’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos. Many expressed concerns that China could deploy other oil rigs to the waters again and advised the Southeast Asian country to prepare for all possible legal actions. Don’t postpone legal fight till tomorrow Professor Alexander Yankov, member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), said Vietnam should take legal fight against China right now, not in the future. According to Professor Yankov, there are two most significant instruments to help Vietnam with that legal battle, including: the 1982 UNCLOS and a united Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “China is a major power but they do not respect the convention [UNCLOS] to which they are a signatory. We could not ignore such violations and Vietnam should take legal fight against them right today, not wait until tomorrow,” he said. Speaking to Tuoi Tre News, Jeanne Mirer, President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said China has violated international law because its drilling facility was obviously positioned within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf under the 1982 UNCLOS. “I’m happy to be here. It is always good to share ideas about how to resolve the problem and to see perspectives of many parties,” said Mirer. “I think this is an unprecedented conference where so many people have been brought together around the desire to make sure that this dispute does not escalate into military confrontation.” Mirer also committed her support to what Vietnam has done so far in the struggle against China’s violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. In case of failure, do it again   Chito Sta.Romana, a former China Bureau Chief of ABC News where he worked as a journalist for 21 years, said the Philippines had remained “patient” for 17 years until the Scarborough Shoal standoff which began in 2012 and caused Manila to take China to international court. Since no progress has been made after more than 17 years of consultations (from 1995 to 2012) to achieve negotiated solutions to the maritime dispute between the two countries, the Philippines filed a 4,000-page memorandum including 10 volumes in March last year to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to ask for China’s clarification of its nine-dotted line that claims most of the East Sea, according to Sta.Romana who is a Filipino. But China has refused to file its response to the Philippines' own submission at the request of the court, maintaining that the best way to solve territorial disputes is through bilateral dialogue. According to Sta.Romana, if China does not submit its counter-memorial, the tribunal will have an alternate procedure to continue the court. He added the final judgment of the arbitral tribunal is expected to be announced in the first quarter of 2016. “Even we win, we do not know how to enforce the ruling. Probably, we will talk to China after that to determine who owns what in the territories in the sea,” Sta.Romana told Tuoi Tre News. “If we fail, we’ll still continue talking about it to use international pressure on China.” Sta.Romana also expressed his support for Vietnam’s plan to take legal proceedings against China: “To do that, Vietnam should have a strong legal team, research well, collect solid evidence and consult the international community”. But he also warned that Hanoi could pay a price for such legal action. The former China Bureau Chief of ABC News cited his country’s case as an example. Since the Philippines filed its legal documents, China has cut off all high-level visits to the country and the Filipino President has not been welcomed to Beijing. Meanwhile, Swiss lawyer Pierre Shifferli advised Vietnam to bring its case to an international body and not to be involved in bilateral talks with China. “As a lawyer, I see that China behaves as a robber. So Vietnam should file a lawsuit to an international court to demonstrate to the world that it has laws for itself,” he pointed out. Shifferli said there are three possibilities for Vietnam to fight against China’s violations, including: Taking legal action in accordance with international law, using diplomatic means to gain support from the international community while building ASEAN as a strong organization, and last but not least trying to show that Vietnam has military capacities. “You should apply all these measures in parallel,” Shifferli told Tuoi Tre News, adding, “Over the last years, China has been much more aggressive. It shows that they will not refrain from military action. So you cannot exclude acts of war by China.”  Quynh Trung/Tuoi Tre News