Fishing boat QNg 96416 (Photo: Quang Ngai Radio and TV Station) Hanoi, (VNA) – Vietnam has affirmed its sovereignty overthe Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago and requested China to investigate theincident involving the acts of Chinese vessels against a Vietnamese fishingboat in the archipelago’s waters on June 10.
Relevant agencies said Vietnam’s fishing boat QNg 96416 TS wasmoving about 7 nautical miles to the south of Lincoln Island in Vietnam’s HoangSa (Paracel) archipelago when a steel vessel plated 4006 and a motorboat ofChina came very near, causing big waves that made 16 fishermen and many objectson the Vietnamese boat to fall into the water, and water to enter the boat.
It was reported that some people on the Chinese vessels got onto the Vietnamese boat to pump water out and brought the Vietnamese fishermenback to the boat. They then forced the captain of the Vietnamese boat to fingerprintsome documents in foreign languages and took away a large volume of seafood,fishing tools and equipment on the QNg 96416 TS.
Immediately on June 10, the Consular Department under theForeign Ministry and the Vietnam Embassy in Beijing contacted the Chinese sideand affirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago. The agenciesalso requested the Chinese side to investigate the incident and inform theinvestigation’s results to authorised Vietnamese agencies for coordinating toaddress the incident.
On June 12, the QNg 96416TS and all fishermen on board safely landed in Sa Ky, thecentral province of Quang Ngai. The fishermen are now under quarantine in QuangNgai’s Binh Son medical centre in accordance with COVID-19 preventionregulations.
Authorised agencies of Vietnam are working to collect and verifyinformation on the incident and will continue to contact the Chinese side toprotect the national sovereignty and Vietnamese fishermen’s legitimate rightsand interests./.
