By Shannon Tiezzi
China’s Foreign Ministry responded to allegations that Chinese ships rammed Vietnamese vessels.
With tensions between Vietnam and China still running high, China’s Foreign Ministry responded Thursday to claims that Chinese ships intentionally rammed Vietnamese vessels. China and Vietnam are engaged in a stand-off near a Chinese oil rig set up in the South China Sea, 130 miles from Vietnam’s coast.
An official from China’s Foreign Ministry blamed Vietnam for the rammings, and said that China had used “utmost restraint” in limiting its response to the use of water cannons. Reports in Chinese media quoted Yi Xianliang, the deputy director-general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs within the Foreign Ministry, as saying that Vietnamese boats had rammed Chinese vessels 171 times. In addition to the rammings, Yi said that Chinese vessels had discovered Vietnamese divers attempting to set up nets and other obstacles to block Chinese boats. Yi also insisted that China’s ships in the area were all civilian, while Vietnam had sent armed vessels. Since the incident, Yi said, China had been forced to increase its security measures.
Ng Ngoc Thu, the vice commandant of Vietnam’s coast guard, directly rebutted these statements in remarks to Reuters. “China has missile ships supporting its civilian ships,” he said. A separate statement from Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there were at least 60 Chinese ships escorting the oil rig, “including military ships.” Thu had a larger figure, telling reporters there were 80 Chinese ships in the region.
Read the full story at The Diplomat