Vietnam and China ships 'collide'

miephan:

southeastasianists:

Vietnamese naval ships and Chinese vessels have collided in the South China Sea, Vietnamese officials say.

The incident happened as the Vietnamese navy was trying to prevent the Chinese from setting up an oil rig in an area claimed by both nations.

No shots were fired, reports say. But Vietnamese officials said that water cannons were used on their ships.

The incident is the most serious between the countries at sea in years, with dozens of boats now in the area.

Vietnamese officials said on Wednesday that the Chinese ships intentionally rammed their vessels.

Several sailors were injured, AP quoted one official as saying.

Vietnamese maritime police official Ngo Ngoc Thu told media in Hanoi on Wednesday that Chinese boats had collided with Vietnamese vessels three times since 3 May.

Chinese officials said during a regular briefing on Wednesday that the oil rig was within China’s territorial waters.

“The disruptive activities by the Vietnamese side are in violation of China’s sovereign rights,” Hua Chunying said.

The incident came as Philippine police seized a Chinese fishing boat and detained its 11 crew in another disputed part of the South China Sea on Wednesday.

The boat carrying “large numbers of endangered species” was seized “to enforce maritime laws and to uphold Philippine sovereign rights”, the Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement.

‘Armed men’

China’s foreign ministry called the action provocative and demanded the immediate release of the fishermen, who have been taken to a Philippine port.

The Chinese fishing boat was being towed to shore and charges would be brought against the crew members, a Philippine maritime official told Reuters news agency.

China’s Xinhua state news agency said the fishing boat - named as Qiongqionghai 09063 - had been seized by an “unidentified armed vessel”.

“Several armed men forced themselves on to the boat and fired four or five shots in the air. They then took control of the boat,” Xinhua said.

China claims ownership of large parts of the South China Sea, including shoals and reefs, located off the coast of the Philippines.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, China and Taiwan all have competing claims in the region.

“In the picture, you will see that China claims 90% of South China Sea as its waters. You yourself can judge how ‘reasonable’ that is just by simply imagining India claims 90% of Indian Ocean belongs to India. This is the era that we should peacefully live together, not use power to suppress smaller countries.

Dear my friends,

My country Vietnam is so small that one might find it challenging to locate it on the map. Our voice might not be heard but we still need to voice up against any powers that harm our sovereignty.

I have to admit that Vietnam is an inauspicious country that during approximately 2400 years of our history, peace was only with us for almost 800 years, which means that every man who was blessed enough to live up to 60 would have spent 40 years of his life through war. None of any great powers have we not kicked out of our country. Having endured through 1100 years of Chinese ruling, we still managed to gain independence. The Spanish, British, French and Japanese were all trying to rule Vietnam but eventually had to relinquish. We were then unfortunate to be the battle for two foreign ideologies Communism and Capitalism (in other words, the Soviet/China and USA) from 1954 to 1975.

Things did not stop there. In 1974, taking advantage of the ongoing Vietnam War, China took control of the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam’s army after a bloody invasion. In 1975 when Vietnam finally reunited after the dolorous and arduous Vietnam War, came the Chinese back to Vietnam’s soil in 1979. This time they brought along their ally Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot. Again we had to battle the Chinese until 1988, when they clashed one island of us in the Spratly Archipelago. We finally normalised mutual relation with China in 1990.

However, Chinese government and its leaders are too greedy to let their neighbours live in peace. Now their 1 billion dollar oil rig and 80 guarding vessels (both civilian and armed forces) are just 120 nautical miles from our coast trying to exploit our oils. This location is inside 200 nautical miles of our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which China must respect as it has ratified UNCLOS 1982 and agreed to respect others’ Exclusive Economic Zones. These waters have never been disputed and have always belonged to Vietnam. And now China has succeeded in fooling the media to believe that our waters are disputed. They actually are not.

What we are doing now is utilising all means of diplomatic actions. We try to speak to them directly and internationalise the issue. We only send the Coast Guard, which is a civilian force, to guard our waters and prevent them from illegally extracting oil. More than anyone we respect peace as we have shed enough blood for war. During Vietnam War, the amount of bomb USA dropped on our land was much more than what they dropped in Europe during WWII. Nevertheless, China is too much of a ruffian however respectful and thoughtful we are. They recently purposely rammed our Coast Guard vessels and caused serious damage to our vessels and people.

Deep down I pray for peace in my country. But that we don’t want war doesn’t mean that we can bear all what China does and we are afraid of war. Our population is only 7% compared to theirs. Our GDP is even smaller than their annual spend on army. But all restrain has its limit. History has seen that we used to crush China into pieces. 

After all, I maintain my respect for all Chinese friends who are clear-minded and are peace-lovers. I apologise for any offensive words.”

By Nha To Tran https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203828900145398&set=a.1694193597141.2098633.1306844290&type=1