China urges halt to oil drilling in disputed South China Sea
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southchinasea-china-vietnam-idUSKBN1AA13I
China’s Foreign Ministry has urged a halt to oil drilling in a disputed part of the South China Sea, where Spanish oil company Repsol had been operating in cooperation with Vietnam.
Drilling began in mid-June in Vietnam’s Block 136/3, which is licensed to Vietnam’s state oil firm, Spain’s Repsol and Mubadala Development Co of the United Arab Emirates.
The block lies inside the U-shaped ’#nine-dash_line ’ that marks the vast area that China claims in the sea and overlaps what it says are its own oil concessions.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China had indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha islands, and jurisdiction over the relevant waters and seabed.