Tensions rose today over China's maritime disputes with its neighbours in the South China Sea as the Philippines detained a Chinese fishing vessel and its crew while Chinese and Vietnamese ships collided in a confrontation over oil exploration rights.
Reports from the Philippines said that 11 Chinese fishermen aboard a fishing boat were seized by Filipino police today in the disputed waters around Half Moon Shoal in the South China Sea.
Several armed men forced themselves onto the boat and fired four or five shots in the air.
They then took control of the boat, the Tanmen fishing association in China's Qionghai City in Hainan Province said.
Another Chinese fishing boat managed to escape, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
This is first major flare up between the China and the Philippines in recent months over the South China Sea dispute which involves claims by both countries over islands and reefs.
Reacting to the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here that China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha islands and adjacent waters including the barrier reef where the incident has taken place.
"We ask the Philippine side to release the vessel and the crew ask Manila to stop taking further pro-active actions," she said, adding, that a Chinese maritime police boat has arrived in the area.
Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Manila have already lodged protest representations with the Philippines' government.
About the reports of collision of Chinese and Vietnamese ships over attempts by a Chinese rig to drill in the disputed waters, she said the drilling activities of the rig are within China's territorial waters.
"The disruptive activities by Vietnamese side is a violation of China's sovereign rights," she said.
Incidentally, earlier China had objected to India undertaking drilling activities off the areas claimed by Vietnam in the recent past.
Reports from Hanoi said Vietnamese naval vessels and Chinese ships collided today in an attempt by Vietnam's ships to prevent a Chinese oil rig from setting up in a disputed part of the South China Sea.
