A Vietnamese fishing boat seized illegally in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago and released by the Chinese earlier this month is now ready leave from home.
Its nine-member crew is scheduled to arrive in Ly Son District in the central Quang Ngai Province by Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sunday.
After being held by the Chinese for a month, the boat was released October 9 but a storm in the East Sea and then a broken gearbox delayed the return until now.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said a fisheries administration boat would take the vessel and crew to a place agreed upon by both sides where it will be picked up by a rescue boat sent by Vietnam’s National Search and Rescue Committee.
The Vietnamese fishing boat and its crew were seized by China a month. The Chinese released the nine fishermen and their boat on October 9.
However boat QNg 66478TS had failed to arrive home by October 12 from the Hoang Sa archipelago.
China claimed that it released the boat last Saturday and that the boat left for home at 1pm Monday.
On October 12 evening the Chinese embassy said the boat and fishermen had been released with sufficient fuel and equipment for the trip. Shortly after leaving at 1 pm, the boat had returned to ask for more fuel, it said.
The Chinese side had obliged but advised the fishermen to wait for a few days before leaving due to an impending storm in the East Sea, it said, adding the fishermen had departed nevertheless after declaring in writing they would take full responsibility for their decision.
They had set off Monday evening, the embassy said.
Ministry officials met with Chinese embassy officials and asked China to join hands with Vietnamese agencies to look for the boat and fishermen.
The embassy said it would ask relevant Chinese agencies to cooperate in the search.
QNg 66478TS was seized September 11 while fishing in Vietnam’s territorial waters in the Paracel area.
Vietnamese agencies investigated and found that the fishermen had been fishing legally when they were arrested and had been carrying just normal fishing gear.
China’s seizure of the vessel and men while fishing in Vietnamese territorial waters seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and sovereign rights, the ministry had told the Chinese in a note.
It had also demanded their immediate and unconditional release.
Vietnam has been involved in a maritime dispute with China over the Hoang Sa which that country occupied in 1974.
The two nations, together with Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, claim all or part of the archipelago.
Also, Vietnam has accused China of repeatedly detaining Vietnamese fishing boats near the islands over the past years. Last year, it arrested 17 fishing boats and 210 fishermen from Vietnam, with all the fishermen and 13 boats having been later released.
The East Sea is the shortest route between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and has some of the world's busiest shipping lanes through which more than half of the global oil tanker traffic passes.
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