越南抗議北京在南中國海撞沉船

Yahoo News on 5^th April 2020 reported the following:

Vietnam protests Beijing's sinking of South China Sea boat

Reuters By Khanh Vu,Reuters 18 hours ago

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By Khanh Vu

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.

The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard, was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on Saturday.

All the fishermen were picked up by the Chinese vessel alive and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearby, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said in a statement posted to its website.

"The Chinese vessel committed an act that violated Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago and threatened the lives and damaged the property and legitimate interests of Vietnamese fishermen," the foreign ministry said in its statement, referring to the Paracel Islands by its Vietnamese name.

Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of water, called the East Sea by Vietnam.

The Vietnamese boat illegally entered the area to fish and refused to leave, the Chinese coast guard said late on Friday.

After making some dangerous maneuvers, the boat collided with a Chinese patrol vessel and sank, the Chinese coast guard said in a statement on its social media account.

The Chinese coast guard also said it had made solemn representations with the Vietnamese side.

The incident marks the second time in less than a year a Vietnamese fishing vessel has been reportedly sunk by a Chinese vessel near the China-controlled Paracels.

A Chinese oil survey vessel conducted operations in Vietnamese-controlled waters for more than three months last year, causing a tense standoff between vessels from the two countries.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by James Pearson and Jane Wardell)

Translation

河內（路透社）- 一艘越南漁船在越南沉沒後，越南向中國提出了官方抗議。越南說一艘漁船在有爭議的南海諸島附近被一艘中國海上偵察船碰撞。

越南外交部周六在政府網站上發表的一份聲明中說，在週四，這艘越南漁船上載著八名正在捕漁的漁民，在西沙群島附近被中國船隻撞沉。

越南漁業協會在其網站上發表的一份聲明中說，所有漁民都被中國漁船活著地救起，並轉移到附近的另外兩艘越南漁船。

外交部在聲明中說：“中國船隻進行侵犯越南對黃沙群島主權的行為，威脅越南人民的生命，並損害了越南漁民的財產和合法利益。” 並用越南語交待西沙群島名字。

越南和中國多年來一直捲入一場潛在能源豐富的爭端中，越南稱之為東海。

中國海岸警衛隊週五晚間說，越南船非法進入該地區捕魚並拒絕離開。

中國海岸警衛隊在其社交媒體賬戶的一份聲明中說，在進行了一些危險動作之後，這艘船與一艘中國巡邏艦相撞沉沒。

中國海岸警衛隊還表示，已向越南方面作了莊嚴的交涉。

這起事件標誌著越南漁船在不到一年的時間內第二次被中國船隻在靠近中國控制的西沙群島附近撞沉。

去年，一艘中國石油調查船在越南控制的水域進行了超過三個月的作業，造成兩國船隻之間的緊張對峙。

    So, Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dispute over the sovereignty of the potentially energy-rich stretch of water that was called the East Sea by Vietnam. China always claims that many islands in the South China Sea are belong to China since time immemorial. Such a claim has been disputed by the Philippines in addition to Vietnam all the time.