Key Events

• Vietnam, U.S., and Philippines Protest China’s Attacks on Fishermen
• Political Prisoners’ Health Worsens As Their Hunger Strike Persists
• To Lam Continues to Travel Overseas, Pays Visits to Mongolia, Ireland, and France
• More Human Rights Group Call for Immediate Release of Y Quynh Bdap

Vietnam Protests China’s Attacks on Fishermen in Disputed Territorial Waters

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has protested China’s recent violent attacks on Vietnamese fishermen and boats near the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea, declaring such actions had “had seriously violated” Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracels and was an infringement of international laws. On Sept. 29, personnel from two vessels operated by Chinese maritime law enforcement reportedly attacked a fishing boat run by a crew from Quang Ngai Province, leaving 10 fishermen seriously injured while their equipment was damaged and looted.

Nguyen Thanh Bien, the boat’s captain, described to local newspapers the two Chinese vessels that attacked bearing numbers 101 and 301. Duan Dang, a South China Sea expert of Vietnam, who developed a navigational visualizer named Geoint.asia, told VOA News that he identified Sansha Zhifa 101 and Sansha Zhifa 301 as the Chinese vessels engaged in the reported assault. This incident has increased tensions over sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea, or the East Sea, as it’s called in Vietnam, in which coastal countries have overlapping claims on territorial waters.