A series of major German news outlets on May 27 posted articles and photos highlighting a Chinese vessel sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat in the East Sea.

According to Die Zeit newspaper, a vessel from China obviously rammed and sank the Vietnamese boat. It quoted an official from the Vietnam’s rescue force as confirming the incident, and stating that the 10 fishermen on board were all safely rescued.

The incident occurred near the oil rig that China has illegally positioned within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Before being attacked, the Vietnamese boat was encircled by around 40 Chinese boats.

The Deutsche Wirtschaft Nachrichten (DWN) newspaper quoted Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh as describing the clash as the most serious of its kind between Vietnam and China since 2007.

The Der Spiegel newspaper quoted a Vietnamese senior official as denouncing China’s act as a “terrorist attack” and asserting that Vietnam will use all diplomatic means to protest the act.

The Deutsche Welle (DW) publication also reported that Vietnam has accused China of sinking its fishing boat.

China’s claim of sovereignty over more than two-thirds of the East Sea area has incurred condemnation from coastal countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.

Apart from these newspapers, many other German media sources decried China’s blatantly illegal behaviour in the East Sea.

At the beginning of May 2014, China illegally dispatched the rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 and a large fleet of armed vessels, military ships and aircraft to Vietnam’s waters and positioned the rig 80 miles deep into Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.

On May 27, China moved the rig to 15 degrees 33.38 minutes north latitude and 111 degrees 34.62 minutes east longitude. The new location is 25 nautical miles from Tri Ton Island in Vietnam ’s Hoang Sa archipelago and 23 nautical miles east-northeast from the old location, still completely within Vietnam ’s continental shelf. With the move, China has kept on violating Vietnam’s sovereign right and jurisdiction.-VNA