(VOVworld) – After setting up some scenes of the collisions between Vietnamese fisheries resources surveillance ships and Chinese coast guard ships, China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday held a press conference to slander Vietnam and justify its illegal actions in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

A Chinese vessel intentionally hits Vietnamese fishing boat

Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs accused Vietnam of sending many vessels, including military ships to obstruct the normal operations of oilrig Haiyang 981 and ram Chinese ships. He said that Vietnam dropped obstacles and fishing nets into water, which impacted the safety of Chinese vessels and their crews. When asked why Chinese vessels were damaged at the prow, which indicates that they hit Vietnamese vessels, he blamed rough sea and said that the prow was the most vulnerable part in case of collision. Yi also said that China had not sent any modern military ship to protect the oilrig, and if there was any, they just passed by the area. It was obvious that a scenario had been set up when reporters from Chinese news agencies were invited to raise questions so that Mr. Yi would read the prepared answers. He also said that China hopes Vietnam will not bring the case to an international arbitration court and that China wants to settle the issue through bilateral negotiations.