Vietnamese fishermen in China’s detention for six months: think tank

Vietnamese fishermen have been in Chinese detention in the Paracel archipelago for more than six months, a Chinese think tank has reported, days after Vietnam demanded that China release all detained fishermen and their boats and stop its harassment of them.

The Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative, or SCSPI, a government-sanctioned think tank, said on the social media platform X that the fishermen “were detained in April and May” for illegally fishing activities in the waters around the Paracels. It did not provide other details including the number of detainees.

Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over the island chain, known as Xisha islands in Chinese and Hoang Sa in Vietnam, but Beijing has been controlling the entire area since 1974, after defeating troops of the then South Vietnam government.

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Last week, a Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson said Hanoi had “resolutely” protested and demanded China “immediately release all the fishermen and fishing vessels, appropriately compensate them for the damages and stop the harassment against Vietnamese fishermen” without giving any further details.

Vietnam says that the Paracels have been a traditional fishing ground for generations of its fishermen but China has been stopping and expelling Vietnamese vessels from the waters around the islands, and sometimes detaining them and demanding fines.

Last month, Vietnam said Chinese law enforcement personnel boarded a fishing boat from Quang Ngai province and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them, prompting the Vietnamese government to publicly protest.

‘Destructive’ fishing activities

The SCSPI said that the Vietnamese fishermen were detained for “harvesting live corals, electrofishing and other environmentally destructive activities.”

It also published photos that it said showed explosives and detonators used by Vietnamese fishermen in the Paracels.

On Nov. 1, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing in Beijing that China hoped Vietnam would “earnestly raise the awareness of its fishermen and make sure they will not engage in illegal activities in waters under China’s jurisdiction.”

Vietnamese authorities insisted that, as the Paracel islands belong to Vietnam, it is within the fishermen’s rights to operate in the archipelago’s waters.

This year, the Quang Ngai provincial government told media that most of the fishing boats from the province used non-destructive methods such as trawling, line fishing and diving.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, a U.S. think tank, said as for trawling, “China and Vietnam account for the largest share of overall fish catch in the South China Sea.”

In its report ‘Deep Blue Scars’ from Dec. 2023, AMTI also accused China of causing the most coral reef destruction in the South China Sea through dredging and land fill, burying roughly 4,648 acres (18.8km2) of reefs.” Vietnam came second with 1,402 acres (5.7km2).

Chinese fishermen have also been using an extremely harmful method of “dragging specially made brass propellers” to dig up reef surfaces for giant clam harvesting, AMTI’s report said.

Edited by Mike Firn.