VN slams China's island oil bid call

HA NOI — "Viet Nam protests against China's plan to invite international bidding for oil block 65/12, about 3 nautical miles off Cay (Tree) Island of Viet Nam's Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi yesterday.

Nghi was responding to media inquiries over China National Offshore Oil Corporation's call on Tuesday for international bidding for 26 oil and gas blocks, including the 65/12.

Nghi said the action "had seriously violated Viet Nam's sovereignty towards Hoang Sa, gone against common sense of the two countries' high-level leaders and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) signed between ASEAN and China in 2002."

He also described the action as "unlawful" and declared it null and void and said Viet Nam requested China to cancel it. — VNS