China News: Vietnam condemns Beijing for aggression

HANOI, Vietnam –

Vietnam condemned China on Thursday, saying Chinese law enforcement assaulted 10 Vietnamese fishermen, damaged their fishing gear and seized about four tons of fish caught near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

Fishermen first reported the attack near the Chinese-controlled islands by radio on Sunday, but did not identify the attackers.

Three of the fishermen suffered broken bones and the others suffered other injuries, according to Vietnamese state media. Some were taken on stretchers to a hospital after returning to Quang Ngai province on Monday evening.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry on Thursday blamed Chinese law enforcement for the high-seas attack, saying it seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, international law and an agreement between the leaders of rival claimant countries to better manage their territorial disputes. .

Chinese authorities did not immediately react.

Vietnam expressed its protests and concern over the attack to the Chinese ambassador in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Vietnam demanded that Beijing respect its sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, open an investigation and provide Hanoi with information about the attack, Vietnamese spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement published on the Ministry of Affairs website. foreign.

China has become increasingly aggressive in asserting its claims to almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in global trade passes each year. This busy sea passage is also believed to sit atop vast underwater oil and gas deposits.

Besides China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims to this strategic waterway.

The United States has no claims in the disputed waters, but it has deployed Navy ships and Air Force fighter jets to patrol the waterway and promote freedom of navigation and overflight. China has warned the United States not to interfere in what it sees as a purely Asian dispute.

The Vietnamese newspaper Tien Phong quoted one of the fishermen, Tran Tien Cong, as saying that two foreign boats approached them from behind and that the personnel of these boats boarded their boat and started beating the fishermen with one meter long (three feet). long), apparently made of iron.

The Vietnamese fishermen panicked and did not fight back as they were overwhelmed by around 40 attackers. Another fisherman, Nguyen Thuong, reportedly said the attackers, who spoke through a translator, ordered them to return to Vietnam. The attackers then seized their fishing gear and their fish catch.

After being beaten, the Vietnamese fishermen were forced to kneel and were covered with plastic sheeting before the attackers left.

The Paracel Islands lie about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Vietnam's east coast and about the same distance from China's southernmost province of Hainan. Both countries, as well as the self-governing island of Taiwan, claim these islands.

The islands have been under China's de facto control since 1974, when Beijing seized them from Vietnam in a brief but violent naval conflict.

Last year, satellite photos showed that China appeared to be building an airstrip on Triton Island in the Paracel group. At the time, it appeared that the airstrip would be large enough to accommodate turboprop planes and drones, but not fighter jets or bombers.

China has also had a small port and buildings on the island for years, as well as a helipad and radar networks.

China has declined to provide details of its island-building work, saying only that it aims to promote global navigation security.

He has rejected accusations, including from the United States, that he is militarizing the sea passage.