Territory - Paracel Islands

Law of the Sea

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry demanded China to release "immediately and unconditionally" a Vietnamese fishing boat and nine crew seized in September near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for fishing with explosives. After first refusing to release them without paying a fine, China later freed the Vietnamese fishermen.

In a further twist on the matter, Vietnam claimed that the fishing boat and the crew had gone missing since their release from China.