Vietnam accuses China of attack on fishermen

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http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/vietnam-accuses-china-attack-fishermen-south-china-sea

Vietnam has accused China of opening fire on a fishing boat in the disputed South China Sea and burning down its cabin, charges denied by Beijing today as tensions resurface over sovereignty in the energy-rich waters.

Claims by an increasingly powerful China over most of the South China Sea have set it directly against US allies Vietnam and the Philippines. Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also claim parts of the waters and China has a separate dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.

A statement posted on the Vietnamese government’s website said the trawler was chased away and came under attack from Chinese ships near the Paracel islands on March 20.

“This is a very serious case, violating Vietnam’s sovereignty,” the Foreign Ministry said in the statement posted late on Monday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei rejected Vietnam’s claims.

“The response by the relevant Chinese body against the illegal Vietnamese fishing boat was appropriate and reasonable,” Hong told reporters in Beijing.

The latest flare-up comes at a bad time for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which on April 24 will begin its first summit of the year in Brunei.