BEIJING: China’s increasingly powerful navy has denied firing on a Vietnamese boat in disputed waters in the South China Sea, state media said yesterday, as its craft made wide-ranging patrols of the region.
The denial came during naval patrols which Tuesday took Chinese ships, amid rising international tensions over the disputed sea.
The navy described a Vietnamese claim that Chinese vessels had fired on one of its fishing boats as “sheer fabrication”, Xinhua news agency reported.
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said Monday a fishing boat was “chased and shot at by a Chinese vessel” and had its cabin set ablaze. Hanoi called the incident a “serious violation” of its sovereignty.
The visit to James Shoal, reported by state media, followed several days of drills starting Saturday and marked a high-profile show of China’s determination to stake its claim to territory disputed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei amid rising tensions in the region.
Sailors joined in the ceremony Tuesday aboard the amphibious ship Jinggangshan just off the collection of submerged rocks, located 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Malaysia and about 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) from the Chinese mainland, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. China planted a monument on the shoal in 2010 declaring it Chinese territory. Sailors gathered on the ship’s helicopter deck declared their loyalty to the ruling Communist Party and vowed to “struggle arduously to realize the dream of a powerful nation,” Xinhua said.
The four-ship task force is headed next to the Pacific Ocean for deep-sea exercises via the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan and the Philippines, Xinhua said.
The exercises and visit to James Shoal did not encroach on any islands where neighboring countries have any substantial presence and drew no immediate response from them, but took place in an area with a complicated patchwork of overlapping claims.
The maneuvers were an important, symbolic declaration of Chinese sovereignty intended to show that Beijing will not waver over its territorial claims despite pushback in the region, said Peking University international relations expert Zhu Feng. Militarily, it means little since the navy has visited a number of times before and has no intention of basing troops near the remote shoal, he said.
“These recent naval operations can be seen as a strong indication of Chinese resolve, but they’re also a continuation of the existing Chinese stance,” Zhu said.
China battled Vietnam for control of territory in the region as recently as 1988, and clashes between its naval forces and fishermen from Vietnam and elsewhere are frequently reported.
In the latest incident, Vietnam accused the Chinese navy of setting fire to the cabin aboard a Vietnamese fishing boat last week off the disputed Paracel Islands north of the Spratlys. Hanoi said it filed a formal complaint with the Chinese embassy and is demanding compensation and punishment of the sailors involved.
