China battles Vietnam fishing boat

Washington Post:

After a week of acrimonious accusations between China and Vietnam, the Chinese military has admitted that one of its ships fired at a Vietnamese fishing boat, though it insisted that only flares were shot and that Vietnam’s claims of fire damage to the fishing boat were a “sheer fabrication.”

The altercation and angry rhetoric is just the latest in a string of maritime clashes over territorial disputes between China and many of its neighbors. But at their worst, such run-ins have consisted of boats ramming each other, the use of water cannons and the arrests of fishermen, and they have rarely escalated to the firing of shots. The clash and the prolonged trading of barbs for days afterward point to a worsening rift between the two communist countries.

Vietnamese leaders say the fishing boat was near the disputed Paracel Islands on March 20 when the Chinese vessel began to chase it. The crew of the Vietnamese boat told local media that the Chinese ship fired at their boat four to five times and set its cabin ablaze.

Vietnamese officials called the incident serious and life-threatening. Vietnam lodged a complaint with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi and insisted that China pay reparations to the fishermen.

After a week of silence, China’s Defense Ministry late Tuesday posted a statement on its Web site justifying the Chinese actions. The ministry said the Vietnamese boats “illegally” entered Chinese waters and that a Chinese patrol vessel tried to warn the fishing boat with whistles, shouts and hand-flag signals. When those failed, the Chinese naval crew fired two red flares, both of which burned out in the air, the ministry said.

In its statement, the Chinese military also portrayed itself as a model of restraint. It said that since last year, at least 303 Vietnamese fishing boats have entered the disputed waters but that China had refrained from capturing such boats “out of concerns of maintaining military relations.”

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China has been asserting dubious maritime claims to islands and out croppings in the South China Sea so that it can claim mineral rights in the areas.  Vietnam is just one of several countries who dispute these assertions. These dispute could escalate into out right naval attacks.