From Maritime Executive, June 14:
On Sunday, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said that a Vietnamese fishing boat was attacked by two Chinese ships near the Paracel Islands, a Chinese-claimed archipelago in the South China Seas.....MORE
According to the ministry, a Chinese ship with the hull number 4006 pursued and collided with the fishing boat QNg 96416 TS at a position about eight nm off Lincoln Island, a Chinese-occupied land feature in the Paracels. 16 fishermen abandoned ship; the boat did not sink, and the Chinese vessel returned to pick up the crew and help dewater the boat.
According to Loc, the Chinese vessel confiscated his catch and some of his equipment, and its crew forced him to sign a document in a foreign language. Despite the ordeal, Loc and his crewmembers were able to return safely to Sa Ky, a fishing port outside of Quang Ngai.
In a statement, the Vietnam Fisheries Society noted that this is far from the first run-in between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea. "Such actions by China have occurred many times and are increasing relentlessly, causing insecurity and discontent among Vietnam’s fishermen, reducing Vietnam’s fishing production, causing serious economic losses to fishermen, infringing on Vietnam's sovereignty and violating Vietnamese and international laws," the society wrote....
*If interested see:
June 2019
Vietnam Rising: "US-China trade war pushing Vietnam’s manufacturing industry to capacity"
A major piece on the country The Diplomat says will be the testing ground for China's military, prior to an invasion of Taiwan. See last month's "China Will Attack Vietnam".May 2020
Throw in Vietnam's undeveloped rare earth resource base, tied with Brazil for #2 in the world (combined they match China) and the risk it poses to China's lock on prices and Vietnam has suddenly gotten very interesting.
Oh, and China is still smarting from being unable to achieve their goals during the 1979 invasion of Vietnam....
"Butterfly Effect: China’s Real Target Is Taiwan"
May 16, 2019
China Will Attack Vietnam
Oh sure, now that General Giap is dead.*
From The Diplomat:
Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. He formerly served as the daily intelligence briefer to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Pentagon.Vietnam Is the Chinese Military’s Preferred Warm-Up Fight...
At some point, the Chinese military will need to test its new capabilities – and Vietnam is likely the preferred adversary....
*****
*From April 11's "Philippines President Duterte Threatened Beijing with Military Action":When the Chinese stopped laughing they reflected and gave thanks it wasn't Vietnam making the threat....He outlived all his adversaries.
***...The Vietnam line is in reference to the fact that General Võ Nguyên Giáp, possibly the greatest general of the 20th century, defeated in turn, the French empire, the U.S.A. Cambodia and China in 1954, 1975, 1978 and 1979 respectively.
That last conflict was the result of China's invasion of Vietnam in an attempt to force Vietnam out of Cambodia which Vietnam had invaded in 1978, putting Pol Pot and the Kmer Rouge génocidaires out of business. It didn't work, Vietnam stayed in Cambodia until 1989.
The General died in 2013 age 102.
