Many international news agencies and media on May 27 posted articles highlighting a Chinese vessel’s ramming and sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat.

France’s AFP news agency reported that the incident occurred on May 26 when a Vietnamese fishing boat was encircled by 40 Chinese vessels before being attacked.

The boat was sunk about 17 nautical miles southwest where China’s oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 is illegally standing. Ten fishermen on board were promptly rescued by other Vietnamese fishing vessels.

The new agency also quoted the Japanese Government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga as describing China’s act as “extremely dangerous”.

Meanwhile, the UK’s BBC radio highlighted Vice Chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Huynh Ngoc Son calling China’s ramming of boats as “terrorist attacks” aiming to intimidate Vietnamese fishermen.

According to the radio, Vietnam has protested China’s illegal placement of the oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and at the same time Vietnamese lawmakers are preparing to take China to international tribunal on the rig and ramming incidents.

The radio Voice of Russia and other major global news outlets, such as the US’s Bloomberg, Australia’s ABC and the UK’s Guardian, all highlighted the event that occurred amid the tense bilateral relations over China’s illegal placement of its oil rig in Vietnam’s waters.

On May 2, China stationed the rig at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 06 seconds east longitude. The location is 80 nautical miles deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone.

Chinese ships have repeatedly rammed and fired water cannons into Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships which are carrying out their law enforcement missions in the country’s waters, leaving many Vietnamese ships damaged and fisheries surveillance officers injured.

Source: vietnamplus.vn