søndag 3. november 2024

Vietnam accuses China of ‘illegal detention’ of South China Sea fishermen

Vietnam has accused the Chinese coast guard of “seriously violating” its sovereignty in the Paracel islands, which both countries claim, by detaining a number of Vietnamese fishermen and their fishing boats in the area. A foreign ministry spokesperson told a press briefing in Hanoi on Thursday that the Vietnamese government had “resolutely” protested and demanded China “immediately release all the fishermen and fishing vessels, appropriately compensate them for the damages and stop the harassment against Vietnamese fishermen” operating in the contested Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea.

Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over the island chain, known as Xisha islands in Chinese, but Beijing has been controlling the entire area since 1974 after defeating and expelling troops of the government of the then South Vietnam.