HANOI: Vietnam on Thursday accused Chinese war ships of pointing their weapons at Vietnamese vessels during an escalating standoff near an oil rig in contested waters.
The tense confrontation came as China moved its deep-sea rig to a new location earlier this week that Hanoi considers is still within its territory.
“When we approached (the Chinese warships guarding the rig) they uncovered their guns, turned them and pointed them at the Vietnamese vessels,” Ha Le, deputy chief of Vietnam’s Fisheries Surveillance Department, told AFP.
Japanese media, meanwhile, reported a standoff during which at least eight Chinese ships surrounded and trained their machine guns on a Vietnamese coastguard boat, just six kilometers from the rig.
One Chinese ship kept a machine gun pointed on the Vietnamese vessel as it came within just 200 meters, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun journalist at the scene.
The report said that at least 100 Chinese ships had been in the area as Chinese jets flew overhead.
Vietnamese and Chinese vessels have engaged in increasingly tense skirmishes over the rig in the South China Sea that have triggered international alarm.
On Tuesday, Vietnam accused a Chinese ship of ramming and sinking one of its fishing boats — the first ship reported sunk since the dispute flared in early May.
The confrontations have included reported rammings and the use of water cannon. Vietnam says dozens of people have been injured in the clashes.
“They use water cannons every day, whenever we approach their boats,” Le said.
Japan and the Philippines also have tense disputes at sea with China.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Thursday that skirmishes were inevitable but “we must be restrained,” according to state media.
He said at least 30 Vietnamese ships had been damaged by Chinese vessels.
Beijing, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea, blames Vietnam for the standoff, saying that the rig is in its own waters.
Vietnam accuses Chinese ships of gun threats
Vietnam accuses Chinese ships of gun threats
Egypt’s El-Sisi accepts invite to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
- Kosovo has been a close ally with the US which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008
- Italy will not take part in Board of Peace initiative, daily Corriere della Sera reports
CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace.”
Egypt “announces its acceptance of the invitation and its commitment to fulfilling the relevant legal and constitutional procedures,” the statement said, praising Trump for his Middle East policies.
“Egypt expresses its support for the Board of Peace’s mission for the second phase of the comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza,” it added.
Kosovo said on Wednesday it had accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace.”
“I am deeply honored by the President’s personal invitation to represent the Republic of Kosovo as a founding member of the Board of Peace, standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the pursuit of a safer world,” Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani wrote on X.
“America helped bring peace to Kosovo. Today, Kosovo stands firmly as America’s ally, ready to help carry that peace forward,” Osmani said.
Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, has been a close ally with the United States which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Wednesday that he has agreed to join the Board of Peace in a departure from an earlier stance when his office criticized the makeup of the board’s committee tasked with overseeing Gaza.
Italy won’t take part in US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative, daily Corriere della Sera reported on Wednesday, citing concern that joining such a group led by a single country’s leader would violate Italy’s constitution.
Trump’s plan has so far drawn cautious reactions from Western allies, as diplomats say it could undermine the work of the United Nations.
Norway and Sweden, meanwhile, said they would not be joining the board at this stage, following in the footsteps of France, which has expressed concern the board could seek to replace the United Nations as the mediator in global conflicts.
