Vietnam has lodged an official complaint with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat. It rammed into the disputed South China Sea with a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel close to islands.
With eight fishermen on board, the Vietnamese fishing vessel was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday. When it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted on Saturday’s government website.
According to Aljazeera, the Chinese vessel caught alive all of the fishermen. And then, they transferred to two other nearby Vietnamese fishing vessels. The Vietnam Fisheries Society said in a statement posted on its website.
Indeed, Vietnam and China have been involved for years in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich seaside region that Vietnam has called the East Sea.
The Vietnamese boat entered the area illegally for fishing and refused to leave, Chinese coast guard said late Friday.
The boat collided with a Chinese patrol vessel and sank after doing some risky maneuvers. The Chinese coast guard said in a statement on their social media page.
In addition, The Chinese coast guard also said it had made the Vietnamese side solemn representations.
The incidents marks the second time that Vietnamese vessel sunk a Chinese fishing vessel. In less than a year, the case was just the same. Vietnamese fishing vessel reported near the China-controlled Paracels.
For more than three months last year, a Chinese oil survey vessel conducted operations in Vietnamese-controlled waters triggering a tense standoff between vessels from the two countries.
