Tensions in the South China Sea are once again soaring after a Vietnames fishing boat reportedly came under attack by a Chinese vessel near the contested Paracel Islands, a Vietnamese official said Friday. According to the Australian Associated Press the dangerous incident has sent tensions in the region to "a new high".
The Vietnamese boat was fishing near Discovery Reef some 370 kilometers off Da Nang in Paracel island chain when according to Hanoi government officials it was rammed by the presumably larger Chinese vessel. The fishing boat capsized, leaving five Vietnamese crewmen clinging to the side of their upturned vessel for two hours before they were rescued by another nearby fishing boat.
Crucially, the Paracel archipelago is an intensely disputed island chain and territory, claimed by both Vietnam and China, the latter which took control of the islands in 1974. It's known as Xisha in Chinese and Hoàng Sa in Vietnamese, and the People's Republic of China has over the past years attempted to solidify its hold by building up reefs and artificial islands, including the construction of military installations and harbors.
This has resulted in a significant uptick in similar "ramming attack" incidents on Vietnamese boats of late. The Chinese coast guard is said to be especially active in intercepting and chasing away all non-Chinese boats, assisted in this regard by civilian boats who act as a maritime militia enforcing Chinese claims over the waters.
Over the past year more than a dozen such incidents have been reported in regional press, something that's become commonplace enough for one analyst and east Asian affairs expert, Greg Poling at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to comment: “China’s neighbors have become so numb to the constant exercise of low-intensity violence and intimidation that it will warrant barely a mention in regional press.”
China's expanding territorial claims in the South and East China Seas have sent tensions soaring with other American allies in the region as well, including the Philippines, which has recently expressed concern over increasing US "freedom of navigation" exercises and flyovers of airspace near the Chinese coast, given the potential for the Philippines to be dragged into any explosive scenario that could result in increased US-China confrontations.
In a rare statement issued Tuesday, the Philippines' top defense official, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, warned that increased US activity in the region could spark unnecessary tensions possibly leading to war with China.
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