The Vietnam Fishery Association on December 14 sent a dispatch to the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi protesting China’s arrest and maltreatment of 43 Vietnamese fishermen.

On December 7-8, three fishing boats and 43 fishermen from Ly Son island, Quang Ngai province were hunted and arrested by Chinese people while they were catching fish on the sea of Hoang Sa Islands, Vietnam. Until December 11, Vietnamese fishermen were released but two boats and equipment worth nearly 2 billion dong are still kept by Chinese people on an island named Phu Lam.

According to the Quang Ngai Provincial Fishery Association, China accused of Vietnamese fishermen to violate China’s sovereignty and illegally use explosives. However, fishermen said that Chinese people carried bags of explosives from somewhere to Vietnamese ships to film and take photo. They also forced Vietnamese fishermen to manually copy ready-compiled minutes and sign.

Nguyen Viet Thang, Chairman of the Vietnam Fishery Association, said that the case on December 7-8 and China’s maltreatment against Vietnamese fishermen when they sheltered from the typhoon Ketsana on Tru Cau Island of the Hoang Sa Islands on September 28 were inhumanity, which violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and the UN Law of the Sea.

“We ask China to put an end to this situation and don’t repeat it and compensate for Vietnamese fishermen,” the dispatch said.

Also on December 14, the association sent a document to the Government Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to protest the case.

So far this year, China has arrested 17 fishing boats and 210 fishermen of Vietnam. It has released 13 ships and 210 sailor and kept four ships and equipment worth around 8 billion dong (US$470,500).

PV