China deploys six military ships to protect illicit rig

June 23, 2014 | 10:00

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China on June 21 maintained 118 ships, including six military ships, to guard its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 illegally standing in Viet Nam’s waters, according to the Viet Nam Fisheries Surveillance Department.

The Chinese ships kept a distance of 6-9 nautical miles from the rig and constantly disrupted law enforcement operations of Vietnamese fisheries surveillance and coast guard forces.

Despite obstinate and violent obstruction by the Chinese side, the Vietnamese vessels still managed to get to the rig as near as 10-12 nautical miles to persistently demand China remove its rig out of Viet Nam waters and respect international law while protecting Vietnamese fishing boats’ normal operations there.

Three Chinese ships, namely coast guard vessel 2168, tugboats 263 and Haishan, sped towards Vietnamese ships and attempted to ram them while broadcasting distortions against Vietnamese forces, said Viet Nam News Agency reporters at the site.

At 11:07, reconnaissance aircraft CMS-B3843 flew 200-500m above Viet Nam’s fisheries surveillance ships which were 12 nautical miles from the rig.

Around 38 Chinese fishing ships, backed by coast guard ship coded 46102, formed a line to violently block Vietnamese fishing boats from operating in their traditional fishing grounds, 34-38 nautical miles from the rig.

VGP

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