HANOI (Bloomberg): Vietnam asked China to "immediately” release vessels and fishermen detained in the South China Sea, according to the Southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Vietnam demands China to compensate properly for losses and stop the recurrence of acts of harassment and illegal detention of Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen in Vietnam’s Paracel archipelago,” Doan Khac Viet, deputy spokesman for Vietnam’s foreign ministry, said at a briefing in Hanoi Thursday.
Viet was commenting on an incident of Vietnamese boats being chased, confronted and their property seized by China in late September, according to a statement on the government website of the South-East Asian nation. It is unclear from the statement how many fishermen were detained and injured.
Vietnam has a long-standing territorial dispute in the South China Sea with China, which claims the majority of the area as its territory - an assertion that overlaps with separate claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The arrest of Vietnamese fishermen and vessels conducted by Chinese authorities in the Paracel Islands "seriously” violates Vietnam’s rights over the waters and legitimate interests of its fishermen, Viet said. Vietnam "resolutely” protests and demands China to respect its rights over the Paracel Islands.
Earlier this month, Vietnam accused Chinese law enforcement of a "brutal” attack on a Vietnamese fishing vessel that threatened the lives of crew members in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
--With assistance from Nguyen Kieu Giang. - ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
