Many Chinese vessels that are guarding China’s drilling rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 in Vietnamese waters have attempted to stage scenes of “being rammed by Vietnamese ships,” but they failed, the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department reported Thursday.

>> Video: Chinese vessels attack Vietnamese ships in Vietnam's waters >> China military planes support illegal oil rig in Vietnam’s waters >> Vietnamese ship hits back at 15 Chinese vessels with water cannon >> Chinese vessels keep firing water at Vietnamese ships in Vietnam's seas Yesterday, about 20 Vietnamese vessels got closer to the Chinese drilling rig and stayed at a distance of 4-5 nautical miles from the platform, using loudspeakers to request that Haiyang Shiyou 981 and its escort ships leave the Vietnamese waters, the department said. Meanwhile, Chinese vessels were arranged in groups of 8-10 ships including coast guard boats, maritime surveillance ships, fishing boats and tugboats, which tried to get close to Vietnamese vessels with an aim to ram or fire their water cannons at them.   Many Chinese ships deliberately blocked Vietnamese vessels in front of the prows so that the foreign ships could be hit by the local counterparts. This was with an attempt to make false scenes in which local vessels were seen ramming the Chinese ships, the Vietnamese fisheries surveillance force said. However, the Vietnamese vessels managed to escape the Chinese side’s “trap” and avoid collisions, the force said.  Meanwhile, a Chinese spy plane flew many rounds above the waters at an elevation of about 300 meters to take photographs and video-tape the Vietnamese ships. On Thursday, 125 Chinese vessels were seen in the sea area, 12 fewer than the day before, the department said.  The department added that Vietnamese fishermen continued their normal fishing operations in an area 7-9 nautical miles from the Chinese rig, under the protection of the Vietnamese fisheries surveillance and Vietnam Coast Guard forces. The rig is located at 15°29’58’’ North latitude and 111°12’06’’ East longitude in the East Vietnam Sea, which lies well within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted. In related developments, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry considered China’s unilateral deployment of its oil rig in the East Vietnam Sea a provocative act, while praising Vietnam’s goodwill in dealing with the tension caused by Beijing. Kerry made the comment during a phone call on Wednesday with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh about the East Vietnam Sea situation after China illegally planted its drilling rig within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf on May 1, and is maintaining the platform and its escort vessels there despite the strong opposition from the Southeast Asian country. Meanwhile Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the same day that China's placement of an oil rig in the waters had "seriously threatened peace,” AFP reported. Speaking on Wednesday in Manila after meeting Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Dung said the two leaders agreed that China should be condemned by the international community for the oil rig deployment and many other illegal actions in the sea, according to AFP. "With regard to the situation in the [East Vietnam Sea], the president and I shared the deep concerns over the current extremely dangerous situations caused by China's many actions that violate international law," Dung was quoted by AFP as saying.

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