Vietnam nominates deputy minister as ASEAN secretary general

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh who has been named as Vietnam's candidate for the rotating ASEAN secretary general's post for 2013-17

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh who has been named as Vietnam's candidate for the rotating ASEAN secretary general's post for 2013-17

Vietnam, which gets to nominate the ASEAN secretary general for the 2013-17 term, named Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh for the post at last month's ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said Thursday.

Nghi told a press briefing in Hanoi that other ASEAN members' foreign ministers had supported the nomination and would submit it to their governments for approval at the 21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh this November.

Also at the press briefing, Nghi was asked about Vietnam’s reaction to reports that China had sent a large number of fishing vessels to fish on the East Sea.

“All activities in the East Sea must be in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the spirit of the Declaration on Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and sovereign and territorial rights of all countries.”