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DOI: Sovereignty and Sovereign Rights of Vietnam over the East Sea: An International and National Legal Perspective
Lê Lan Anh , PhD, Faculty of Law, Hanoi Open UniversityAbstract
This article focuses on analyzing the system of international and national legal foundations concerning Vietnam's sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over the East Sea (or South China Sea). By comparative analysis between the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) and the 2012 Law on the Sea of Vietnam, the research clarifies the legal substance, boundaries, and administrative-security management regimes for each specific maritime zone: internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and the continental shelf. Furthermore, the article analyzes the practical value of the 2016 Arbitral Award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in invalidating China's baseless claims over the "nine-dash line," as well as Vietnam's consistent strategic position in protecting national interests and upholding the rule of law across the oceans.
Keywords
Law of the Sea, UNCLOS 1982, international law, maritime sovereignty
References
Ban Ki-moon. (2017). 21st Century is the Century of the Oceans: The MDGs and SDGs. Conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Halili, A. H. (2025). Philippines rejects ‘misleading’ foreign claims on South China Sea boundaries. BusinessWorld. https://bworldonline.com/
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. (1994). Resolution on the Ratification of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 9th Legislature, 5th Session, June 23, 1994.
National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. (2012). The Law on the Sea of Vietnam (Law No. 18/2012/QH13), adopted on June 21, 2012, effective from January 1, 2013.
Declaration of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the Baselines Used to Measure the Breadth of Vietnam's Territorial Sea, November 12, 1982.
Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). (2016). The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of the Philippines v. The People's Republic of China), Final Award, Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal, The Hague, July 12, 2016.
United Nations. (1982). United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Montego Bay, Jamaica.
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