US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo on August 4 held a phone talk with Bruneian Foreign Minister II Erywan Yusof, during which he reaffirmed Washington’s support for Southeast Asian countries in upholding their sovereign rights against China’s unlawful maritime claims in the East Sea.

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo  (Photo: AFP) 

According to US Principal Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown, Pompeo stressed the US’s opposition to China’s efforts to use coercion to push its unlawful maritime claims in the sea. 

Pompeo and Erywan also discussed the importance of continued bilateral security relations and expressed their commitment to work toward strengthening the relations.

Earlier on August 3, Pompeo had similar discussions with his Indonesian and Singaporean counterparts on bilateral ties and regional tensions related to China’s illegal sovereignty claims in the East Sea.

On July 15, Spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Le Thi Thu Hang said peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the East Sea are the common aspirations and goals of countries bordering the East Sea as well as of those in the region and the international community.

Upholding international law, respecting legal order at sea, and fully and responsibly implementing the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) are critical to realising those goals, she said.

Vietnam hopes that countries will exert utmost efforts to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation in the East Sea and to settling disputes via dialogue and other peaceful measures in accordance with international law for common interest and in line with aspirations of countries in the region and the international community, she said, adding that Vietnam always makes active and responsible contributions to this process.