Vietnam accuses China of attack on fishermen in South China Sea
Source: Reuters
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 on Tuesday 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 U.S. 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, calling the incident a breach of international maritime law.
Vietnam's state-controlled newspapers showed photographs on Tuesday of what they said were the charred remains of the ship's cabin. "This is a very serious case, violating Vietnam's sovereignty," the Foreign Ministry said in the statement posted late on Monday.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/26/us-vietnam-china-idUSBRE92P0A420130326
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)is`t china are largest trading partner?
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Vietnam by invading it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino_vietnam_war
I was one of the first Americans to return to Vietnam and was surprised when the only topic of interest from the government's point of view was normalizing diplomatic relationships.
Franker65
(299 posts)Fishing is one thing but when it comes to obtaining natural resources, this is going to escalate sharply. If you look at statistics on something like seaborne iron-ore demand, China comes way ahead of everyone else in the region. But hopefully Vietnam, the Philippines and other nations in Asia will bond together in an attempt to stop any bullying...
happyslug
(14,779 posts)in 2010 China produced over 900 Million Metric Tons of Iron Ore. Given your cites use 2009 and 2012 numbers, it looks like China has increase Iron ore Production over the last few years mostly from Seaborne Iron Ore Deposits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_iron_ore_production
But it is very poor Iron Ore. For example the US has 6900 metric tons of iron with an iron content of 2900 million tons (42% Iron Ore), China has 23,200 Metric Tons of Iron Ore Reserves (including seaborne Iron ore) but it only contains 7200 of actual Iron Ore (31% Iron ore).
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/iron_ore/mcs-2011-feore.pdf
The Big Three when it comes to total Iron Ore Reserves are Brazil, Australia and Russian. none of which have any "seaborne iron ore" and thus NOT mentioned in your reference. The Ukraine is #4 in iron ore reserves, with China in 5th place on the list of countries with Iron Ore Reserves.