By Ankit Panda
Recent incidents highlight the return of low-level coercion against Vietnamese fishermen in disputed waters.
As Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, wrapped up an historic visit to the United States, reports emerged in the Vietnamese press that a Vietnamese fishing boat was pursued and sunk by two Chinese vessels. According to Vietnam’s Tuoitre News, a fishing boat operated by 11 Vietnamese fishermen off the coast of Quang Ngai was intercepted, harassed, and sunk by two Chinese ships in waters off the Paracel archipelago. China and Vietnam dispute the sovereignty of the Paracel Islands. The sinking of this fishing boat comes weeks after China redeployed its Haiyang Shiyou 981 (HD-981) oil rig near disputed waters. That oil rig was at the center of a major dispute between the two South China Sea claimant states last summer.
According to Vietnamese press reports, the Chinese vessels approached the Vietnamese fishing boat and initially used “high-powered lights” and loudspeakers, demanding that the fishermen leave the area. According to Tuoitre, the owner of the fishing boat “ran his ship away, fearing a possible attack, but was run after by the [Chinese] ships, which eventually rammed the fishing boat to sink [sic] at 11:00 p.m.” on Thursday, July 9. According to the report, the fishermen were left “floating at sea while clinging to the lifebuoys,” and were later “rescued and taken ashore after several other Vietnamese fishing boats found them at about 2:00 am on Friday.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat