Vietnam rejects China's claims of its presence in East Sea 2,000 years ago

	Spokesperson confirms Vietnam’s stance in East Sea issue
	US official says sanctions against China a possibility while Beijing vows retaliation over US Law on Hong Kong
	Chinese spokesperson Hua ChunYing launched a series of "monstrous" Tweets in response to US

Vietnam's fishing boats on Hoang Sa (Parace) in May, 2014. Photo: VNE.

“Vietnam has sufficient legal basis and historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos in accordance with international law,” Spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a regular press conference on Thursday.

Hang re-asserted Vietnam’s sovereignty in the South China Sea when answering a question on blatant fabrication by Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Twitter where the Chinese diplomat said China has presence in this vital sea dated back 2,000 years.

The East Sea is known internationally as the South China Sea.

Hang said: "We believe all countries have the duty and common interest in respecting fundamental principles of international law."

Earlier, Chinese top diplomat launched the baseless information in a tweet to strike back the US' rejection of "mostly" China's illegal souvereignty claims in the South China Sea.

Hua had also said in a tweet on “recovered the #Nansha & #Xisha Islands” – the way China calls Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Spratly) and Truong Sa (Paracel) archipelagos, is totally unpersuasive and baseless.

In fact, China used force to drive out Vietnamese troops and takes over Vietnam’s islands, rocks, buildings, and facilities in Hoang Sa (Paracel) in 1974.

Hua also accused the US of “ waged color revolutions & illegal wars, displacing millions in Iraq, Libya & Afghanistan” and “sent advanced military airplanes to the region to flex its military muscles, which caused instability in the South China Sea.”

She affirmed that China respects the maritime freedom and overflight in and above the South China Sea and “have never heard about any country complaining” about that.

May she forget that Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, it said to be rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near islands in Vietnam’s South China Sea, also called Vietnam’s East Sea in April.

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