China rebuffs Vietnam over South China Sea rig demand

摘要

China’s Foreign Ministry has rebuffed Vietnam’s second demand this year to move a controversial oil rig and stop its plans to drill an exploration well in South China Sea waters where jurisdiction is unclear. China added that it was engaging in normal exploration activity. The Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig, which was at the centre of a fierce diplomatic stand-off between the countries in 2014, had moved into an area of the Gulf of Tonkin over which, Vietnam said, the two countries were still “executing delineation discussions”.