Updated Nov. 1, 2024, at 9:40 a.m. ET.
Vietnam has accused the Chinese coast guard of “seriously violating” its sovereignty in the Paracel islands, which both countries claim, by detaining a number of Vietnamese fishermen and their fishing boats in the area.
A foreign ministry spokesperson told a press briefing in Hanoi on Thursday that the Vietnamese government had “resolutely” protested and demanded China “immediately release all the fishermen and fishing vessels, appropriately compensate them for the damages and stop the harassment against Vietnamese fishermen” operating in the contested Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea.
Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over the island chain, known as Xisha islands in Chinese, but Beijing has been controlling the entire area since 1974 after defeating and expelling troops of the government of the then South Vietnam.
The Vietnamese spokesperson, however, did not provide any details on how many fishermen had been detained or when.
Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Lin Jian said his country urged Vietnam “to effectively strengthen education and management of its fishermen and not to engage in illegal activities in waters under China’s jurisdiction.”
On Thursday, the Chinese defense ministry’s spokesperson, Zhang Xiaogang, told reporters that the Chinese military wished to “deepen the traditional friendship as comrades and brothers with Vietnam, as well as enhance strategic mutual trust.”
Last month, Vietnam protested after Chinese law enforcement personnel boarded a fishing boat from Quang Ngai province and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them.
The crew claimed that most of the equipment on the boat was smashed and taken away along with the catch.
China responded by saying that “on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found.”
China’s ramped up activities
Separately, the Chinese defense ministry spokesperson revealed on Thursday that the People’s Liberation Army navy recently conducted the first ever dual aircraft carrier exercise in the South China Sea.
The exercise was carried out in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, with real combat scenarios, Zhang told a press briefing in Beijing without specifying the time frame.
The navy released photos and videos featuring the dual carrier formations led by China’s first aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong, with more than 10 destroyers, frigates, and replenishment ships.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the multi-day exercise was conducted between the Mid-Autumn festival (Sept. 17) and the National Day holidays (Oct 1-7).
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Over the past year, Beijing has intensified its activities in the South China Sea, where it has disputes with some of its neighbors, including Vietnam and the Philippines.
Euan Graham, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told a forum on the South China Sea that while in the last 15 years or so, China mainly usedg coercive tactics known as gray-zone activities, “the number and intensity of incidents involving physical force and threat of armed violence has increased.”
Maritime tensions between China and the Philippines have risen sharply this year, as well as between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a Chinese province that shoul be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
On Oct. 14, the Chinese military launched a large-scale exercise, called Joint Sword-2024B, in the air and waters of the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan island.
Updated with comment from China’s foreign ministry.
Edited by Mike Firn.