Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lê Thị Thu Hằng addressed the press briefing held in Thursday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is a country with friendships to both the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (RoK) and will support the peace process in the Korean Peninsula, spokesperson for the foreign ministry Lê Thị Thu Hằng said on Thursday.

She was speaking during a press briefing in Hà Nội in response to questions over the statement from the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Nguyễn Phú Trọng during the virtual talks with Republic of Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, in which the Vietnamese Party leader stressed the willingness to contribute to the peace process.

“Việt Nam’s consistent stance is to promote peace, stability, and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula. And we support all countries’ showing of good wills and promotion of dialogues and working towards denuclearisation and long-lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Hằng noted.

“In this spirit, as a country that enjoys both a traditional friendship with the DPRK and a strategic partnership with the RoK, in our capacity, Việt Nam has been and will continue to make active, positive contributions to the promotion of dialogues, cooperation, and denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula, for peace, security, development in the region and in the world,” she added.

Maritime security

The media also asked for Việt Nam’s reaction to the recent incident involving an Australian patrol aircraft and a Chinese fighter jet over the Việt Nam’s Hoàng Sa (Paracel Islands) in the South China Sea (called East Sea in Việt Nam).

China also claimed the archipelago and has occupied, and controlled much of it following a bloody altercation with Vietnamese forces in 1988, however, China’s expansive claims to a large swathe of the South China Sea including the island chain were dismissed in a 2016 ruling by the Hague Tribunal.

Spokesperson Hằng said Việt Nam believes that the activities of all countries should be conducted in accordance with international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The activities should not cause an escalation of regional tensions, and should make practical contributions to the maintenance of peace, stability, security, order, cooperation and development in the region and the world, Hằng noted.

“Once again, Việt Nam has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence for its sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, in accordance with international law,” the spokesperson stressed.

In a related question over China and Cambodia’s upgrading of the Ream naval base which the West says could be used to enhance Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region and potentially make the South China Sea situation even more complicated, spokesperson Hằng said Việt Nam’s consistent policy is to maintain good cooperative friendships with countries in the world.

The cooperation between countries however needs to contribute positively to the peace, security, stability, and prosperity in the region and in the world.

At the ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday for the modernisation of facilities at the Ream Naval Base with Chinese aid, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Tea Banh, said that no foreign military base would be allowed in the country as it goes against its Constitution, the Khmer Times reported.

Việt Nam-Hong Kong relations

Evaluating economic and trade relations between Việt Nam and Special Administrative Region Hong Kong (China), foreign ministry spokesperson Lê Thị Thu Hằng noted that bilateral ties continue to record strong developments, with the fields of economy, trade, investment, and tourism being particular bright spots.

In the context of complicated developments of the COVID-19, in 2021, trade exchanges between Việt Nam and Hong Kong still maintained strong growth momentum. Việt Nam’s total import-export value with Hong Kong reached US$13.6 billion, up 18 per cent over the same period in 2020.

Hong Kong is currently the fifth largest investor in Việt Nam, while Việt Nam has also become Hong Kong's seventh largest trading partner and Hong Kong's second largest trading partner in ASEAN. People-to-people exchanges between the two sides were going well before the pandemic, with about 20 flights on a daily basis between Việt Nam and Hong Kong, she noted.

In 2019, there were more than 50,000 Hong Kong visitors to Việt Nam, Hằng said, adding that this is a source of high-value tourism for Việt Nam.

“With the great potential for cooperation between the two sides and the need to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect and believe that the cooperation between Việt Nam and Hong Kong will grow strongly in the fields of economy, trade, investment, finance, tourism, bringing practical benefits to both sides, contributing to cooperation and development in the region", she underlined. — VNS