China: Vietnam Rammed Chinese Ships in Disputed Waters '1,416 Times'

The territorial dispute between China and Vietnam involving a Chinese oil rig parked near the disputed Paracel Islands has continued to escalate and, in an extensive report, the government of China is now claiming that the oil rig triggered an overreaction by Vietnam that led to as many as 1,416 rammings of Chinese ships.

In a report titled “The Operation of the HYSY 981 Drilling Rig: Vietnam’s Provocation and China’s Position,” China’s Foreign Ministry accuses Vietnam of flooding the area near the oil rig with “armed vessels,” “illegally and forcefully disrupting the Chinese operation and ramming the Chinese government vessels on escort and security missions there.” The report accuses Vietnam of also littering the ocean with “fishing nets and floating objects” intended to disrupt the passage of Chinese vessels.

The report alleges that there were “as many as 63 Vietnamese vessels in the area at the peak, attempting to break through China’s cordon and ramming the Chinese government ships for a total of 1,416 times.” It also accuses Vietnamese protesters of “beating, smashing, looting and arson” against Chinese companies.

The report concludes with an extensive historical argument for Chinese sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, which China calls the Xisha. It notes that documents from the Vietnam War show the Vietnamese government referring to the islands as Chinese territory.

The release of this extensive report coincides with the news that China has decided to take the dispute to the United Nations. According to the Associated Press, China’s deputy ambassador Wang Min sent a “position paper” to the United Nations on the territory and the use of an oil rig by China in the area, requesting that it be distributed to the General Assembly.

The Vietnamese government, in turn, has requested that the Chinese government cease what it deems to be belligerent behavior in the region, releasing a video last week of a Chinese ship ramming a Vietnamese vessel in the area. The collision of multiple Chinese ships with Vietnamese ones began, the Vietnamese government contends, shortly after the arrival of a Chinese oil rig into the region, which Vietnam says is not the maritime territory of China and as such the nation has no right to place the instrument there. The Vietnamese government continues to call for the removal of the oil rig and deems its presence “illegal” in those waters.

The dispute with Vietnam is not the only one of its kind of China. Also in the South China Sea, the government of the Philippines has alleged that China may be attempting to build an airstrip on a reef that is part of disputed territory between the two nations and as such unavailable for construction legally to the Chinese government. In the East China Sea, Japan has long sought official possession of the Senkaku Islands, over which the Chinese government installed an air defense identification zone last November that it claims requires Japanese planes to identify themselves to the Chinese military if entering the area.