Vietnam Opposes China?s Tourism Plan in Disputed Area

Vietnam?s government opposes China?s plan to develop Hainan island for tourism in the decade to 2020, a proposal that incorporates the Spratly and Paracel islands.

Vietnam reaffirmed its ?indisputable sovereignty? over the islands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said, according to a statement on the government?s website. Vietnam?s Ministry of Foreign Affairs met Chinese embassy officials on June 22 on the matter, according to the statement.

China plans to promote air and sea routes to take tourists to the Paracel islands and encourage citizens to register for the right to use uninhabited islands, the statement said.

China?s actions violate Vietnam?s sovereign right and go against the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed in 2002, Nga said in the statement.

The Paracel and Spratly islands, groups of rocky outcrops in the South China Sea with unproven oil and gas deposits, are claimed in whole or part by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Sourced=businessweek