Vietnam is protesting China's reported behavior toward fishermen near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea after Vietnamese state media said Chinese personnel boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat and beat crew members.
Vietnamese reporting said Chinese government personnel attacked the boat on Sunday, leaving 10 fishermen with injuries, some serious.
The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on Thursday blamed Chinese law enforcement personnel for the attack, saying they had "seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty in the Paracel Islands," in addition to international law and an agreement by the leaders of the rival claimant countries to better handle their territorial disputes.
Beijing did not immediately release a reply.
Vietnam's state-run Tien Phong newspaper reported Tuesday that the fishermen said about 40 people from the foreign vessels beat them with iron pipes and took away their fishing equipment. Four fishermen from the central Vietnamese city of Quang Ngai were hospitalized with serious injuries, VietnamNet reported Tuesday. The newspaper cited Nguyen Thanh Bien, the vessel's captain, describing the two vessels as having the numbers "101" and "301."
"On the morning of September 29, while operating in the waters, they spotted a foreign ship identified as number 301 pursuing them. Sensing danger, Bien ordered the crew to head back to Sa Ky port [on the seashore of Quang Ngai]. However, an additional foreign vessel with number 101 joined the pursuit, deploying three smaller boats to encircle them," VietnamNet reported.
"They were beating us mercilessly. I raised my hands to defend myself, knowing we couldn't fight back. After their attack, they forced us to the front of the ship and covered us with a tarp," said Nguyen Thuong, 34, one the hospitalized fishermen, who suffered injuries to his left arm, according to VietnamNet.
Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said in her statement that Chinese law enforcement forces "suppressed, injured, and confiscated property" of Vietnamese fishermen aboard the QNg 95739 TS fishing vessel of Quang Ngai province.
"Vietnam is extremely concerned about, discontented with, and resolutely opposes the Chinese law enforcement force's brutal behaviors towards the Vietnamese fishermen," Hang said.
"The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sternly communicated with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, strongly opposed the above mentioned acts by the Chinese law enforcement force and demanded China to fully respect Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, quickly investigate and announce results to the Vietnamese side, and not repeat similar acts," Hang added, using the Vietnamese name for the Paracel Islands.
Two Chinese government vessels, the Sansha Zhifa 101 and Sansha Zhifa 301, have been identified as the ships that allegedly attacked a Vietnamese fishing crew on September 29, according to Geoint.asia and South China Sea expert Duan Dang.
"Two Chinese coast guard ships, Sansha Zhifa 101 and Sansha Zhifa 301, unprovokedly attacked Vietnamese fishermen and ships," Hoang Viet, a lecturer with the University of Law of Ho Chi Minh City, told VOA by phone Wednesday.
"This clearly shows China's plot to monopolize the East Sea," Hoang Viet said, using the Vietnamese name of South China Sea.
China's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Tuesday that Vietnamese fishing boats were fishing without Beijing's permission, so Chinese authorities took measures to stop them, according to Reuters.
"The on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found," the ministry said, in response to a Reuters request for comment, without specifically referring to the attack.
"China's assertion of its maritime claims are growing increasingly violent. Its law enforcement ships have been effectively turned into a paramilitary force, with authorization to use all available means to coerce its neighbors into submission," Raymond Powell, founder and director of SeaLight, a project that monitors activities in the South China Sea, told VOA by text message Wednesday.
"It seems only a matter of time before someone is killed during one of these encounters," Powell wrote.
Vietnam "responded rather fast to the incident," Hoang Viet, the law lecturer, said by phone. "Vietnam always prioritizes its relationship with China, and it also puts its territorial sovereignty at a more important level."
"China has never stopped its ambition to occupy the East Sea. Vietnam, as well as other Southeast Asian countries, is always in China's sights. When will it act? It's just a matter of time," Hoang Viet said.
Some information for this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
