By Jane Perlez, New York Times
BEIJING — Tensions in the South China Sea escalated sharply on Tuesday as China and Vietnam traded accusations over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the vicinity of a Chinese oil rig parked in disputed waters off Vietnam’s coast.
A Chinese coast guard vessel, right, saiied near China’s oil drilling rig in disputed waters earlier this month in the South China Sea. Credit Hoang Dinh Nam/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The sinking further aggravated the worsening diplomatic and economic frictions between China and Vietnam, whose relations have plummeted to the worst point in decades after anti-Chinese riots two weeks ago that killed at least four people and injured more than 100 in Vietnam. China evacuated several thousand workers from Vietnam last week.
In the latest incident, a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat about 17 nautical miles southwest of the oil rig on Monday afternoon, the state-run Vietnamese television network, VTV1, reported. All 10 crew members were rescued, the network said.
But China labeled Vietnam as the aggressor, with the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, saying the Vietnamese fishing boat “capsized when it was interfering with and ramming” a Chinese fishing vessel from Hainan, a province of China. Then China accused Vietnam of sabotage and interfering with the operations of the oil rig, which has become a flash point ever since Vietnam learned that the Chinese had anchored the rig in waters contested by both nations.
At sea, armadas from both countries are jousting as the Chinese try to protect the $1 billion oil rig operated by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, known as Cnooc.
Chinese and Vietnamese boats have rammed each other in the area around the oil rig, and the Chinese have acknowledged that they used water cannons to keep the Vietnamese away from the rig, which stands as tall as a 40-story building.
The rig arrived in the waters off the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by both China and Vietnam, on May 1, a move that showed China was trying to establish its control of the waters without consulting other claimants.
Read the full story by Jane Perlez from New York Times.
