Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:15:49 -0400
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: VN protests over alleged China ship trespass

09/04

VIETNAM PROTESTS OVER ALLEGED CHINA SHIP TRESPASS

    By Kathleen Callo
    HANOI, Sept 4, Reuter - Hanoi has protested twice to Beijing, demanding it
withdraw a Chinese survey ship and a drilling vessel from Vietnam's Tonkin Gulf,
the Vietnamese foreign ministry said on Friday.
    It said in a strongly worded statement that China sent one ship in August to
survey and another ship this month to drill for oil in an area which, at one
point, was only 70 nautical miles from Vietnam's northeast coast.
    Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Ministry Vu Khoan delivered a note of protest on
Thursday to the Chinese ambassador in Hanoi, Zhang Dewei, and another more
emphatic letter on Friday, the statement said.
    "On the afternoon of September 4, 1992, Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Khoan met
the Chinese ambassador...again to hand over a note from our foreign ministry
demanding that the Chinese side immediately withdraw those ships from that
operation," it said.
    A Vietnamese government official, who asked not to be identified, said four
Chinese ships entered Vietnamese waters in the Tonkin Gulf on Friday to do
seismic surveys.
    They had ignored radio warnings by Vietnamese coast guard vessels to leave
the area and were still in Vietnamese waters, the official said.
    Earlier on Friday Vietnam said deputy foreign ministers from both sides
would hold talks later this year on border disputes.
    China and Vietnam, once allies in Hanoi's war against the United States,
fought a brief border war in 1979 and clashed among the disputed Spratly Islands
in the South China Sea in 1988.
    Although they normalised relations last November ties have remained
strained.
    The foreign ministry statement said China's actions in the Tonkin Gulf were
not helping create a constructive atmosphere for the border talks.
    Friday's statement was Vietnam's strongest protest following several
incidents since February that Vietnam said showed a new territorial push by
China in the South China Sea.
    Vietnam said the latest incident, and a contract China signed in May with a
U.S. company to explore for oil off Vietnam's southern coast, ran counter to
top-level agreements by Beijing and Hanoi to avoid aggravating any disputes,
pending a resolution.
    The ministry statement said Chinese radio stations on Hainan Island and in
Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, had since August repeatedly broadcast plans for
"Phan Dau 5" seismic survey ship and "Nam Hai 6" drilling vessel to operate off
Vietnam's coast.
    The broadcasts said other ships were forbidden to enter those waters. The
Hanoi statement said the drilling ship intended to operate virtually at the
mouth of Vietnam's northern ports of Haiphong and Quang Ninh, blocking local and
foreign shipping.
    "Our government urges the Chinese government to get the concerned Chinese
branches and local authorities to stop immediately the implementation of the
prepared plans and not to carry out any more such activities," the statement
said.
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