At about 8.45am on Thursday, Quảng Bình border guards detected six Chinese vessels fishing in waters only about 19 nautical miles to the east of the Nhật Lệ river gate, deep inside the territorial waters of the province. — Photo vnexpress.net |
QUẢNG BÌNH — Việt Nam’s maritime force chased six Chinese fishing vessels out of its waters in the central province of Quảng Bình, the municipal border defence force confirmed yesterday.
At about 8.45am on Thursday, Quảng Bình border guards detected six Chinese vessels fishing in waters only about 19 nautical miles to the east of the Nhật Lệ river gate, deep inside the territorial waters of the province.
The location of the group of Chinese vessels was also far from the Sino-Việt Nam joint fishing zone boundary, some 19 nautical miles to the west. This shows that the Chinese ships were out of international waters and intruding in Vietnamese waters.
In the afternoon two maritime force vessels approached multiple Chinese ships sharing the name Qiong Dan Yu but with different identifying numbers. Twenty-eight Chinese fishermen were found on the vessels, without any legal documents regarding the ships or the men.
The border guards immediately asked all the fishing vessels to sail out of Vietnamese waters.
The incident followed the seizure of a Chinese vessel disguised as a fishing boat which allegedly intruded in Vietnamese waters in the Gulf of Tonkin last Thursday. The Chinese vessel was illegally carrying some 100,000 litres of diesel oil. — VNS