National Awards mark Revolutionary Press Day
Vietnam celebrated the 86th anniversary of Revolutionary Press Day and many other important events occurred around the world.
The fifth National Journalism Awards
The fifth national journalism awards were held in Hanoi on the occasion of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 26).
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The 2010 contest received more entries than the previous contests: 1,321 entries in eight categories. Head of the Central Commission for Communication and Education and President of the Vietnam Journalists Association Dinh The Huynh said this year final round entries were outstanding and showed new discoveries that accurately reflected Vietnam’s economic, social, and cultural development as well as its progress in national defence and security. They are also of consistently high quality, he said.
Vietnam raises the East Sea issue at United Nations
The 21st Meeting of UNCLOS States Parties was held in New York from June 13-16 with the attendance of nearly 200 members of countries involved in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), members of countries in the United Nations, and international organizations.
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Le Luong Minh, who is also head of the Vietnamese delegation to the United Nations.
In his speech, Mr Minh explained the significance and importance of the 1982 UNCLOS decision and accused China of allowing its marine surveillance ships and fishing vessels to entangle and sever the cables of Petro Vietnam seismic survey ships that were operating within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in the East Sea.
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Ambassador Minh also condemned and rejected China’s so-called U-shape and nine-dash map of the East Sea.
He asked China to immediately cease violating Vietnam’s marine sovereignty and adhere to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The head of the Vietnamese delegation affirmed Vietnam’s determination and its stance on strictly implementing the UNCLOS regulations as well as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) to make the East Sea a peaceful, cooperative, friendly and stable region.
Vietnam is adamant about settling East Sea disputes through diplomatic means and peaceful dialogues between concerned parties based on the 1982 UNCLOS, DOC, and other related international conventions.
The world protests against China over its violations of Vietnamese sovereignty
At the 21st meeting of UNCLOS parties, many ASEAN countries shared Vietnam’s position regarding the East Sea and emphasized the need to strictly abide by the UNCLOS regulations in maritime activities. They also highlighted the importance of maintaining peace, stability and security in the East Sea, following the DOC and work towards developing a Code of Conduct on the East Sea (COC) as soon as possible.
At the meeting, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore agreed unanimously to appeal for maintaining peace and security in the region.
Philippine Secretary General for Maritime and Ocean Affairs Henry Bensurto called on all sides of the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea to comply with the terms of the declaration.
At a maritime security conference held on June 21 by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (the US), Professor Peter Dutton from the US Naval War College said there are now two sets of regulations on the issue – the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
Dutton stressed that UNCLOS clearly states that a nation’s claim to its jurisdiction over natural resources must be based on the coastline geography. The fact that China claims jurisdiction within the U-shape or nine-dotted line without mentioning, even indirectly, geographical features of the coastline or a baseline is a basic violation against international law.
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US Senator Jim Webb |
Regarding tensions in the East Sea, Len Aldis, President of the UK-Vietnam Friendship Society declared on June 20 that friends of both Vietnam and China are concerned about the recent incidents in the East Sea.
He said his organization strongly urges concerned parties to respect the sovereignty of neighbouring countries and respect the United Nations Charter, international law, the 1982 UNCLOS decision, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
US senators Jim Webb and James Inhofe recently introduced a resolution that condemns China for consistently using force in the East Sea and called for a multilateral and peaceful solution to territorial disputes in the sea in Southeast Asia.
Ban Ki-moon re-elected as United Nations Chief
On June 21, the United Nations Security Council, comprising 192 state members, agreed to re-elect former foreign minister of the Republic of Korea Ban Ki-moon, age 67, to the position of UN Secretary General for a second five-year term.
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Ban Ki-moon |
In his inaugural speech, Mr Ban promised to continue his role in joining other UN members to promote progress on many global issues such as climate change, nuclear disarmament, human rights, and conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East for the sake of global peace and security.
70th anniversary of German fascists attacking the Soviet Union
On June 22, people of the republics of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, organized many activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of fascist Germany’s sudden offensive against the Soviet Union in 1941, one of the events that started the second World War and the Soviet Union’s great Patriotic War.
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Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, Hitler deployed a huge army of 190 divisions, more than 4,000 warplanes, and over 4,000 tanks to attack the Soviet Union’s entire western frontier. At that historic moment, all people of the Soviet Union rose up to defend their fatherland against fascism.
The Soviet Union’s Patriotic War ended in victory on May 19, 1945, but it suffered huge losses, with more than 26.6 million people killed, including over nine million Red Army soldiers.
Chinese-produced noodles tainted with DEHP
Many supermarkets in Vietnam have withdrawn Shin Ramyun and Shin Ramen noodles manufactured in China and Taiwan after the press reported these products were affected by DEHP.
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