Chinese ships have continuously attacked and robbed Vietnamese fishermen who fished off Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea over the past ten days, local authorities said. During the bullies, the Chinese forces either beat or fired their water cannons at the Vietnamese fishermen, injuring several people, said Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Chau Commune in Quang Ngai Province. Hung is also chairman of the commune’s Fishery Association. The latest in a series of such incidents occurred at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, Hung said. At that time, the ship QNg 95431, from Binh Chau, was operating off Hoang Sa when the Chinese ship #4044 appeared and approached it. People from the foreign boat blatantly boarded the local vessel, assaulted its crew, and took away all the property on board. After the attackers left, Nguyen Van Tan, 58, the Vietnamese captain, steered his ship ashore for the injured crew members to be treated, Hung said. But the Binh Chau fishery union has lost contact with Tan’s ship since he reported the attack, Hung said, adding that efforts to recover communications are underway. Earlier the same day, two other fishing boats from Binh Chau also reported that they had fallen victim to Chinese vessels, Hung said.  These local ships were operating off Hoang Sa then some Chinese boats approached and harassed them for five hours, the Vietnamese captains, Nguyen Sinh Banh and Do Van Truoc, said. Three other serious attacks happened to the ships coded QNg 90205 TS, QNg 90369, QNg 90657 TS – all from Binh Chau – from June 7 to 14. They were bullied by Chinese ships when fishing off the archipelago, Hung said. The assaulters fired their powerful water cannons at the Vietnamese fishermen, injuring Bui Tan Doan, 23, and Cao Xuan Ly, 42, of the ship QNg 90369, the boat owner and captain, Nguyen Trung Kien, 42, reported. The foreigners also took away about five metric tons of aquatic products, along with an Icom walkie-talkie and a positioning system, from the ship QNg 90205 TS, Hung said, citing Nguyen Van Quang, the ship owner. They destroyed the fishing gear of the local boat as well, Quang said. Meanwhile, the ship QNg 90657 TS suffered a loss of about six metric tons of aquatic products, two fish detectors, a positioning system, an Icom walkie-talkie, five tanks of oil, diving clothes, and other instruments, according to Nguyen Van Phu, 29, the owner and captain. The three attacks caused damage totaling about VND1.05 billion ($48,150). Given such serious incidents, the Quang Ngai Province Fisheries Association has demanded that China immediately stop scaring away and assaulting Vietnamese fishermen who are legally operating in the waters around Hoang Sa, one of their traditional fishing grounds in the East Vietnam Sea, said Phan Huy Hoang, deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and chairman of the association. The association has also reported the serious situation to the Vietnam Fisheries Association, Hoang said. Legally speaking, the Hoang Sa archipelago belongs to Vietnam even though it has been occupied by the Chinese after an invasion on January 19, 1974.