Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lê Hải Bình. — File Photo

HÀ NỘI (VNS) — Việt Nam asks Taiwan to respect the country’s sovereignty and not to repeat any action that escalates tensions and complicates the situation in the East Sea, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lê Hải Bình said yesterday. 
Bình made the statement in reply to reporters’ queries regarding Việt Nam’s response to Taiwan’s launch of a media tour of Ba Bình (Itu Aba) island in Việt Nam’s Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelago on Wednesday. 
“Việt Nam has full legal foundations and historical evidence asserting its indisputable sovereignty over Hoàng Sa (Paracel) and Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes,” he said, adding that any action conducted by foreign countries in the two archipelagoes without Việt Nam’s consensus is illegal and void. 
Taiwan’s organisation of the tour, despite concerns and objections raised by Việt Nam and the international community, violated Việt Nam’s sovereignty, escalated tensions, and threatens peace and stability in the East Sea, as well as relations between the two sides. 
Việt Nam vehemently objected to such deeds, demanding Taiwan participate in joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in the sea, according to Bình.

Seeking better conditions

On the same day, the Vietnamese embassy in Japan is working with the employers of Vietnamese workers there, to ask for improved living conditions and a review of housing rent to ensure their rights, said the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry made the announcement in response to a Vietnamese worker named Nguyễn Quang Hùng, who contacted the embassy for help regarding their employment conditions in Japan.
Following a working session with Freeasia House who signed labour contracts with the Vietnamese workers, the ministry’s representatives on March 18 inspected sites where the employees are living and working.
In a separate incident, the Vietnamese embassy in Angola reported that Vietnamese workers Trần Xuân Hiệp and Phạm Văn Phúc died of gastric haemorrhage and malaria on March 19 and 21.
Upon learning about the news, the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department worked with the Hà Tĩnh provincial Department of Foreign Affairs and guided the victims’ families about the necessary paperwork to bring their bodies back home. — VNS