Experts from Vietnam, Germany, the US, Indonesia, Japan and thePhilippines are coming together at an international seminar in Hanoi todiscuss sovereignty disputes in the East Sea and their multidimensionalimpacts.

The two-day event, starting on October 9,is co-organised by the University of Social Sciences and Humanitiesunder the Hanoi National University and the German political foundationKonrad Adenauer Stiftung.

Scholars will presentpeaceful and cooperative approaches to the issue, in line with theUnited Nations Charter, international law and the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

Addressingthe seminar, Assoc. Prof. Dr Phung Xuan Nha, Director of the HanoiNational University, said the East Sea recently became a hotspot ofsovereignty disputes in the Asian-Pacific region, along with the KoreanPeninsula, the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea.

Due to the East Sea’s important political and economic position, andthe increasing interdependence within the region, disputes in the EastSea are an issue for the Asian-Pacific region and the world at large, hesaid.

China’s recent unilateral acts of provocationaffected the regional and global arenas in a number of fields,including security, cooperation, development, maritime freedom and theworld order in general, he added.

On this occasion,Nha hailed the important contributions Vietnamese and internationalacademics made to regional peace and security by providing scientificfacts and truthful lines of argumentation.

Accordingto the director, as a member of ASEAN, Vietnam consistently affirms itswish to solve East Sea disputes peacefully, without the use and threatof force, and in compliance with international law, especially the 1982UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Thecountry will increase its collaboration with ASEAN on the issue, sincethe bloc plays a central role in regional security and is pushing forthe conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he said.-VNA