Some experts share their opinions about China’s arrest of Vietnamese fishing boats and fishermen.

It is very clear where the incident occurred. According to staff of border post 328 and fishermen, the fishing grounds are 12 nautical miles from the nearest island (belonging to the Hoang Sa or Paracel islands) and it is within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. Hoang Sa is an archipelago, not an island country. Without mentioning China’s illegal occupation of Hoang Sa since 1974, with this act, China has deliberately widened the above area to assert its sovereignty over the sea area of Vietnam, violating the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. This cannot be accepted unacceptable!

If fishermen pay fines, they naturally acknowledge China’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa. Moreover, fishermen are very poor while the fine is huge. If they don’t pay fine, they and their boats will be held further.

I highly appreciate fishermen’s determination to not pay the fine. This shows their awareness of Vietnam’s maritime sovereignty.

Vietnamese fishermen signed on China’s report, which stated that Vietnamese fishermen “seriously violated the Fishery Law of the People’s Republic of China”, because they were forced to sign. However, their signatures are worthless because the document would only be valid when the government agencies of two countries sign on it.

I condemn their towing the Vietnamese fishing boats far from the site to make their report. It is an unacceptable trick.

Government agencies, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Defence need to work as a team to solve this case.

This year, the ban covers even the sea area of Vietnam and is during the normal fishing season. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) immediately informed local departments about the ban, but from the standpoint that Vietnamese fishermen would still work in the sea area of Vietnam.

However, in border areas, fishermen should be very careful. They have to immediately inform competent agencies in any case.

MARD assigned a Deputy Minister to be in charge of guiding fishermen to do their job. All offshore fishing boats are provided with maps, which clearly shows the temporary border line between Vietnam and China and the radio frequencies of competent agencies.

We always urge fishermen to not violate the territorial waters of other countries. Hoang Sa belongs to Vietnam but in this situation, fishing boats should work in groups of five to seven boats to support each other.

Prior to 2006, fishery management forces patrolled Vietnamese territorial waters but since the Law on Inspection was issued, this force no longer patrols the sea. We are proposing to amend this law. We also don’t have big ships to support fishermen who catch fish far from the mainland.

I think Vietnam should have semi-military ships to protect our marine resources and to deal with violations by foreign ships of our marine territories.

My agency organizes monthly meetings with representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the oil and gas sector, navy, and coast guard forces. The government also has issued many dispatches asking the Ministry of Defence to strengthen naval patrols to protect fishermen. However, our fleet is limited due to the shortage of funding.

If Vietnam’s fishing boats are seized, we have to bring them home safely at any cost and not let fishermen pay fines. If our boats trespass on other countries’ waters, fishermen must be fined according to international law and the payment must be transferred through the State Bank of Vietnam.

For the three fishing boats arrested on June 21, I confirm that Chinese patrol forces acted illegally. The three boats were catching fish at the sea area of the Hoang Sa Islands of Vietnam. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi and delivered its official statement about this case.

We have to pay attention to these acts. They may assert that documents like these are evidence in the conflict of sovereignty with Vietnam. However, according to international laws, such documents cannot be seen as evidence.

I agree we should not pay absurd fines to China but struggle through diplomatic means to have our fishermen and their boats released. We cannot let this become a precedent that hinders our fishermen from catching fish in Vietnam’s waters.

VietNamNet/TP/VNE