A Vietnam Coast Guard ship on Thursday found 45 Chinese boats fishing off Ly Son Island, in Vietnamese waters in the East Vietnam Sea, while a Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ship was rammed by a Chinese vessel the same day.    

>> China towing second oil rig to East Vietnam Sea amid tensions>> China deploys 17 more ships to guard illegal rig in Vietnam’s waters >> Chinese vessels challenge Vietnam’s ships at 10-meter distance>> Chinese boats fail to stage scenes of ‘being rammed by Vietnamese ships' The Coast Guard vessel, CSB 4033, detected the illicit fishing on the early morning of June 19 while it was coming back to the mainland from the Vietnamese waters near the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago where China’s oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 has been illegally placed since May 1.

These Chinese fishing boats, steel-clad, were caught in an area within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in the East Vietnam Sea, about 146 nautical miles off Ly Son, an island of the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai. Upon finding the illegal operations of the Chinese ships, vessel CSB 4033 used loudspeakers to request the foreign boats to leave the Vietnamese sea area, which is a traditional fishing ground of local fishermen.

However, Chinese coast guard ship #46102 came from nowhere, sped up toward vessel CSB 4033, and moved in front of the local vessel, preventing it from getting close to the Chinese fishing boats.

Chinese vessel #46102 also used loudspeakers to air wrong allegations against Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa.

The encounter lasted for about 20 minutes before the Chinese ship left the waters.

Before the incident, vessel CSB 4033 had been approached and intimidated by another Chinese coast guard, #37101, which traveled at 23 nautical miles per hour, in an area near the Chinese drilling platform.

According to the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department, China deployed 115 vessels, including 39 coast guard ships, 14 transport ships, 19 tugboats, 38 fishing boats, and five military ships.

These watercrafts often approached Vietnamese ships at distances of 50-200 meters to prevent them from accessing the rig.

Fisheries surveillance ship rammed

At 3:30 pm on Thursday, Chinese vessel #242 crashed into Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ship #762 in an area 12 nautical miles away from the Chinese illegal rig, the national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) reported the same day.

This is the second time that vessel #762 has been attacked by a Chinese ship.

The crash caused a concave fracture that is 70 meters deep and 20 meters wide on a side of the local ship.

A day earlier, Chinese oil and gas service vessel #252 slammed purposely into the same Vietnamese vessel, deforming a side of the local ship, breaking up its lifeboat, and smashing two windows, four lights and a crane rack.

The crew members of the local ship tried to repair all the damage within Wednesday and they continued operating until they suffered another ram yesterday.

China has illegally placed its drilling platform in the Vietnamese waters despite Vietnam’s repeated demand that it withdraw the rig and escorting ships from the sea area immediately and unconditionally.

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