General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Van Tuan has stated that Vietnam welcomes visitors across the world to the country, however, they must abide by Vietnamese law.

General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Van Tuan. (Source: phapluatxahoi.vn)

He told the media on May 15^th in response to a group of Chinese tourists wearing T-shirts featuring the illicit “nine-dash line” map that suggests China’s groundless territorial claims in the East Sea while entering Nha Trang city, the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa on the evening of May 13^th.

The VNAT General Director urged localities to direct tourists, inbound and outbound travel agencies abide by legal regulations, preventing similar occurrences and impacts on tourism cooperation between the two countries.

He took the occasion to ask tour operators to learn from the lesson and better monitor visitors.

"After completing immigration procedures, the tourists went out to wait for buses to Nha Trang," Head of the Security Police Department at Cam Ranh International Airport, Nguyen Van Quan said.

"They took off their coats and only wore the T-shirts. And we saw the T-shirts. We immediately asked them to change their clothes and confiscated all their T-shirts."

The Chinese tourists were travelling to Vietnam on a tour operated by Aladdin Co. Ltd.

A representative from the tour company said it was not until the Chinese tourists had passed immigration that the company’s tour guide realised their clothes featured the map.

“We asked them to get changed and confiscated all the T-shirts at the airport to be handed over to the authorities,” Aladdin's representative said.

A group of Chinese tourists wear T-shirts with the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map. (Source: Dtinews)

In 2014, a Chinese couple were caught attempting to bring bundles of world maps showing the illicit “nine-dash line” into Vietnam through Moc Bai border gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

The “nine-dash line” is a widely rejected cow tongue-shaped line illegally created by China to claim its sovereignty over about 80 per cent of the East Sea, including Vietnam’s Paracel (Hoang Sa) and Spratly (Truong Sa) archipelagoes.

Vietnam has consistently rejected China’s territorial claims as they are not based on any legal foundation and violate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea./.

VNF/VNA