German Ambassador to Vietnam Guido Hildner said that the country jointly sent a note to the UN to reaffirm its position of uphold international law in the South China Sea.

"Germany wants issues in the South China Sea to be resolved based on international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)", Ambassador Hildner said at a press conference on September 30 in Hanoi, stating the reason.

The Ambassador said that UNCLOS is a comprehensive convention, including the definition of sea area, sovereignty and settlement measures when disputes arise.

"When there is a tense debate among the countries along the South China Sea, we need to reiterate our view. New arguments in the debate do not change our policy," said Hildner.

After Germany approved the Indo-Pacific Orientation in September 2020, the Ambassador said that he wanted to uphold the laws related to the South China Sea and highlight the importance of the region, and made an invitation

Ambassador Hildner said that Vietnam and Germany work closely together in favor of a rules-based order and multilateralism, including respect for international law, upholding freedom of navigation and freedom.

"The common system is under suspicion, so we need to protect and develop it," said Hildner.

On a regional scale, members of the EU and ASEAN are discussing increasing cooperation towards establishing a strategic partnership.

In the context that countries are responding to Covid-19, the German Ambassador said that the country and Vietnam agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

Germany is the largest trading partner of Vietnam in the EU.

According to the Ambassador, in a telephone call on September 15 on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Vietnam.