China’s inhumane acts injure 12 Vietnamese, damage 24 vessels

Photo: VGP

The figures were released at the international press conference on developments in the East Sea on Thursday.

Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Le Hai Binh said that China continued taking more aggressive actions, releasing distorted information and blaming Viet Nam while illegally placing its oil rig deep inside the waters of its next-door neighbor and deploying a fleet of escort ships defending it.

China moved the rig to 15 degrees 33 minutes 38 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 62 seconds east longitude, according to Vice Chairman of the National Boundary Commission Tran Duy Hai.

He went on to say that China has deployed as many as 140 ships, including military ones, to guard the oil rig.

Mr. Ha Le, Deputy chief of the Viet Nam Fisheries Surveillance Department said that Chinese ships were always ready to rammed and attacked both Vietnamese law enforcement vessels and fishing boats.

On May 7, Viet Nam’s fishing boat QNg 96416-TS, carrying 16 fishermen on board from central Quang Ngai province, was attacked by Chinese ships when it was operating in its regular fishing grounds in Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, suffering damage to its sides and cabin.

At 11pm on May 16, Viet Nam’s fishing boat QNg 90205-TS’s regular operation in the traditional fishing ground in Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago was disrupted by a Chinese ship coded 306. This happed at 16 degrees 55 minutes north latitude and 112 degrees 21 minutes east longitude near Phu Lam Island which belongs to Viet Nam’s Hoang Sa archipelago.

Then, most recently, on May 26, Chinese ship coded 11209 sank a Vietnamese fishing boat with 10 members on board in Viet Nam’s waters. The Vietnamese boat DNa 90152, from the central city of Da Nang, was operating in its traditional fishing grounds when it was rammed by China’s ship 11209 until it sank./.

By Hai Minh