Vietnam Squares Off With China in Disputed Seas
By GERRY MULLANY and DAVID BARBOZA

HONG KONG — Tensions in the South China Sea intensified Wednesday as Vietnamese vessels confronted Chinese ships that were working to place an oil rig off Vietnam’s coast, and Vietnamese officials claimed that their ships had been rammed by the Chinese vessels three days earlier.

Vietnam said the Chinese ships also fired water cannons at its flotilla in the encounter on Sunday, injuring Vietnamese sailors, although Chinese officials did not confirm the incident. The skirmishing highlighted the hair-trigger tensions in the region as Asian nations try to contain China’s more aggressive posture in pursuing maritime claims in the South China Sea.

“On May 4, Chinese ships intentionally rammed two Vietnamese Sea Guard vessels,” Tran Duy Hai, a Foreign Ministry official, said at a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam. “Chinese ships, with air support, sought to intimidate Vietnamese vessels.”

Last week, the Chinese state oil company Cnooc stationed the oil rig 120 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam, in waters claimed by China and Vietnam. The placement of the rig led to protests and demands by Vietnam that it be withdrawn, and the deployment of a Vietnamese naval flotilla to the area.

Yang Jiechi, a Chinese state councilor, rebutted the criticisms in a telephone call on Tuesday with Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh of Vietnam. Mr. Yang said the rig was operating within Chinese waters, but Mr. Minh told the Chinese diplomat that Vietnam would take “all suitable and necessary measures” to protect its rights and interests, according to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry.

The incident is the latest chapter in territorial disputes involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. Taiwan also claims swaths of the ocean. The disputes themselves are not new, but an increasingly powerful China with new abilities to reinforce its claims has caused ripples in the region over the last few years. China claims expansive areas of the sea, encompassed in a “nine-dash line” map that critics have said has no basis in international law.

In Washington, a State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said the United States was concerned about “dangerous conduct and intimidation” in the region. “Given the recent history of tensions in the South China Sea, China’s unilateral decision to introduce its oil rig into these disputed waters is provocative and unhelpful,” she said at a daily press briefing on Wednesday.

In another flare-up, the authorities in the Philippines detained crew members of a Chinese fishing vessel in a disputed area of the South China Sea and accused them of poaching endangered sea turtles.

Dante Padilla, a senior inspector with the Maritime Group of the Philippine National Police, said Wednesday afternoon in a phone interview that the fishermen and several hundred sea turtles were seized on Tuesday by a Philippine National Police patrol boat during the operation, near Half Moon Shoal.

“From our initial reports, there was no resistance from the apprehended vessel, and no shots were fired,” he said.

Mr. Padilla said the fishing boat was being escorted to the Philippine city of Puerto Princesa, where charges of poaching would be filed against the men. They could also face charges related to the protection of wildlife, he said.

The Chinese government initially said it had lost contact with 11 fishermen in the area and the crew had been taken away Tuesday morning by armed men, who had fired warning shots before boarding the vessel. But on Wednesday, China acknowledged that the crew had been detained by the Philippine authorities near the Spratly Islands.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said China had called upon the Philippines to “immediately” release the fishermen, to “make rational explanations” of its actions and to “take no more provocative action,” the Xinhua state news agency reported.

Relations between China and the Philippines have grown increasingly tense over the last year because of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The tensions are flaring at a time when the American and Philippine armed forces are engaged in joint military exercises in the region and just after Washington and Manila forged a new security agreement.

南海風雲起 陸船衝撞越南船 菲抓陸漁民

中國大陸與越南、菲律賓在南海的主權衝突升高，越南官員七日表示，越南海警船企圖阻止大陸在西沙群島設鑽油平台，遭到大陸船艦猛力撞擊，並用高壓水柱驅趕，越方有八艘海警船被撞破，並有六人受傷，但雙方未開火。

另外，菲律賓海警七日在南沙群島半月礁附近「逮捕」一艘大陸漁船、船上十一名船員和五百隻海龜。半月礁距巴拉望島約一百公里，中共外交部要求菲方立即放人船。

越南海上警察司令部副司令吳玉秋開記者會表示，中方派遣七艘軍艦、卅三艘海警、海監與漁政船前往鑽油平台周邊海域，過去三天至少三次故意撞擊越南海警，並以高壓水柱、飛機低飛威脅越南船隻，越方有六人被玻璃碎片割傷。他還提供影片作證。

吳玉秋說：「我們的海警很自制，但不會退，中方若持續撞我們，我們必須採取自衛行動」

路透報導，中越雙方都派了幾十艘海軍和海防船艦至鑽油平台附近，由於雙方沒有退讓跡象，爆發嚴重衝突的可能性升高。

美聯社引述外交官的話指出，越南上周發現大陸在西沙群島設立鑽油平台後，派了廿九艘武裝的海軍和海防船艦到附近，意在對北京「展現武力」，迫使北京撤回鑽油平台。但越南官員說，越方尚未派軍艦，只派了海警船。

大陸一日派一支龐大的海軍護衛艦隊，將造價十億美元的深海鑽油平台運送到西沙群島附近，並宣布外國船隻不得靠近鑽油平台方圓四點八公里範圍。

越南立刻要求北京撤回這座距越南海岸約二百廿公里的鑽油平台。西沙群島由大陸控制，但越南宣稱享有主權。

另外，菲律賓宣稱海警發現一艘大陸漁船進入菲律賓專屬經濟區，將船隻拖至巴拉望省。

新華社報導，「數名武裝士兵強行登船，朝天開了四、五槍，然後就控制了這艘來自海南瓊海的漁船。第二艘大陸漁船見狀逃走，但是遭遇另一夥武裝船隻。」

中共外交部發言人華春瑩表示，中共對包括半月礁在內的南沙群島及其附近海域擁有無可爭辯的主權，目前中共海警船已趕到事發現場，中共外交部和駐菲律賓大使館已在第一時間向菲方提出交涉，要求菲方給出合理解釋，並且立即放人放船

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/asia/philippines-detains-crew-of-chinese-fishing-vessel.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/asia-pacific/20140508/c08seas/zh-hant/

Video：China and Vietnam on Oil Rig Dispute
http://nyti.ms/1npYUsr

2014-05-08．聯合報．A15．國際．編譯田思怡、記者賴錦宏