Vietnam fishermen allege China seizure

Posted in: June 18, 2011
AFP

HANOI: A Chinese vessel confiscated hundreds of kilogrammes of catch from Vietnamese fishermen, an official said Friday, at a time of high maritime tension with Beijing.

The alleged seizure is one of numerous similar incidents reported by Vietnamese fishermen working in disputed South China Sea waters in recent years.

But it comes as relations between Vietnam and fellow communist China are at their lowest point in years after recent sea confrontations, which reignited a row over the sovereignty of the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.

The island groups are potentially rich in oil, and straddle strategic shipping lanes.

"We were told the Chinese took away their 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of fish and some fishing equipment," an official on Vietnam's Ly Son island, where the boat is based, told AFP.

She added that the cost of the loss is estimated at around 55 million dong (US$2,600).

Thanh Nien newspaper said the seizure occurred Tuesday morning near the Paracels, and the Vietnamese boat reported the loss when it returned on Thursday to Ly Son, a fishing community off central Vietnam.

Thanh Nien said the Chinese vessel was armed but it did not specify the type of craft. Past incidents generally involved maritime enforcement ships.

Chinese state media reported Friday that the country will massively boost the size of its offshore maritime patrol force to 350 vessels by 2015 and 520 by 2020. It will also have 16 planes by 2015.

The force falls under the State Oceanic Administration, an agency that supervises China's coastline and territorial waters.

Some analysts believe the possibility of a clash between Vietnam and China has risen, although Beijing reiterated on Thursday that it is committed to peace in the South China Sea.

On Thursday China said the country's largest maritime patrol ship, which carries a helicopter, had left Guangdong for a regular visit to Singapore that would take it through the South China Sea.

Vietnam says it wants to see a peaceful resolution and adherence to international laws.

The situation has escalated since late May after Vietnam twice accused China of violating its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and interfering with oil survey ships.

Vietnam's navy on Monday said it conducted a live-fire naval drill in waters off central Vietnam, the same day Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reportedly signed an order on eligibility for military conscription.

- AFP/cc