China 'concerned' about fishing boat sunk by Argentina

On March 16, the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to Argentina's sinking of a fishing boat illegally fishing in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Chinese fishing boat sunk by Argentine coast guard (Source: AFP)

The ministry's website quoted spokesman Lu Kang as saying that Beijing "is extremely concerned about the incident and calls on the Argentine side to immediately investigate and inform the Chinese side of the details."

China's Foreign Ministry also said it had received information that all 32 Chinese sailors were safe, including four rescued by the Argentine coast guard, while the rest boarded nearby Chinese ships.

Previously, the Argentine coast guard said the fishing vessel Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 had been fishing illegally off the coast of Puerto Madryn, located 1,300 km south of the capital Buenos Aires, within Argentina's exclusive economic zone.

The coast guard issued warnings in English and Spanish and ordered the vessel to stop, but the vessel turned off its lights and fled into international waters.

According to the source, police also discovered two more fishing boats operating near the fleeing Chinese ship.

The Chinese fishing boat caused a dangerous collision with an Argentine ship while trying to escape, forcing the Argentine police to open fire and sink the Chinese fishing boat.

China is an important export market for Argentina's agricultural and raw materials industries, and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the South American country in 2014, where he declared that relations between the two countries had entered a "new horizon," according to AFP.

Seafood poaching is a major problem in the Atlantic and South Pacific, with law enforcement occasionally pursuing violators, many of whom end in the sinking of offending vessels.

China has recently expanded its offshore fishing to meet the country's growing demand for seafood, AFP reported.

According to research by Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), China has the world's largest offshore fishing fleet, with the number of vessels increasing rapidly in recent years, reaching more than 2,460, mainly operating in the West African region.

Last year, Greenpeace said at least 74 fishing vessels owned by four Chinese distant-water fishing companies were found fishing illegally off the coast of West Africa.

China's neighboring countries also regularly accuse Chinese fishing vessels of invading their waters to conduct illegal fishing.

In 2012, Argentina also detained two Chinese fishing boats illegally fishing for squid in its exclusive economic zone and fired warning shots./.

According to Vietnamplus