BEIJING (AP) — March 26, 2013 — China said its navy fired flares at Vietnamese fishing boats but denied Hanoi’s claim that a vessel was damaged in an incident that is highlighting tensions over disputed South China Sea islands and surrounding waters believed to hold a wealth of oil and natural gas deposits.
Sailors on board a Chinese navy craft fired two flares at four Vietnamese boats that had earlier failed to respond to whistles, shouts and signal flags demanding that they cease fishing and leave the area, which China claims as its territorial waters, the Defense Ministry said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
It said the ships were fishing illegally in Chinese waters off the Paracel Islands on March 20 and both flares burned out in the air. Chinese forces did not fire weapons and no Vietnamese boats caught fire.
Vietnam, which also claims the Paracels, said one of the boat’s cabin’s caught fire in the incident, which it called ‘‘very serious.’’ The government lodged a formal complaint with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, seeking compensation for the alleged damage and punishment of the Chinese sailors responsible.
The fishing boat was near the Paracels when an unidentified Chinese vessel chased it and fired the flare, the Vietnamese government said in a statement issued late Monday.
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