China And Vietnam Ships Crash In Contested Sea

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Chinese and Vietnamese ships have been involved in a collision in contested waters in the South China Sea off the Vietnamese coast.

According to the Vietnamese Coast Guard, Chinese military vessels "intentionally" rammed two Vietnamese vessels, causing significant damage, on May 4.

Tran Duy Hai, a foreign ministry official and deputy head of Vietnam's national border committee, said: "Chinese ships, with air support, sought to intimidate Vietnamese vessels. Water cannon was used."

At the weekend, Chinese state-owned energy firm CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) began operating in the waters which both countries claim as theirs.

A vast Chinese oil-drilling rig, CNOOC 981, was towed into the area and is scheduled to begin drilling work on May 10, according to Chinese media.

At the Chinese foreign ministry's daily briefing in Beijing, a spokesman said China was operating legally and well within the scope of its sovereignty.

"Vietnam's interference with the normal operations of Chinese enterprises seriously violated China's sovereignty and sovereign rights, and seriously violated international law and the fundamental principles of international relations," the spokesman said.

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"China cannot accept this at all."

On Tuesday, Vietnam told China it would take all necessary measures to defend its interests in the South China Sea if Beijing refused to remove the rig.

In a statement from the Vietnamese foreign ministry, it was revealed that Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh had called the Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and said the deployment of the $1bn (£590m) deep sea rig, accompanied by military vessels, was illegal and a violation of Vietnamese sovereignty.

The statement quoted Mr Minh as saying Vietnam hoped to solve all territorial disputes with China peacefully, but it added Hanoi "will apply all necessary and suitable measures to defend its rights and legitimate interests".

China claims vast swathes of the South China Sea as its own.

Last year, Chinese passports were redesigned with a watermarked map complete with a dotted maritime border stretching in a vast u-shape towards southeast Asia.

CNOOC recently designated nine zones off the Vietnamese coast which it said were available for oil exploration.

Vietnam insists all the zones fall entirely within its own maritime economic zones.

Collectively, the nine areas cover more than 160,000 sq km (99,000 sq miles) of water.

Experts estimate the South China Sea contains as much as 50 billion tons of crude oil and 20 trillion cubic metres of natural gas.

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