Coast guard shot crewman in leg during boarding
BEIJING - Two Chinese fishing boats were detained by the coast guard of the Republic of Korea (ROK) on suspicion of illegal fishing, and one Chinese crewman was wounded on Thursday, according to a Yohnap News Agency report quoting a coast guard spokesman on Friday.
A 30-ton vessel, along with another Chinese fishing boat, was captured in waters 103 km southwest of the west coast town of Taean, ROK's coast guard officials said.
The ROK's coast guard boarded the boats, which were suspected of fishing 11 km inside the country's exclusive economic zone. The Chinese crewmen defended themselves, AFP reported.
One Chinese crewman was shot in the leg during the "inspection", according to AFP, the first case of the coast guard opening fire in such an incident.
An ROK coast guard crew member was injured by the Chinese crewmen, and the entire Chinese crew of 10 members was being held by ROK coastguard officials, AFP said.
The ROK coastguard planned to impose a fine of 30 million won (almost $27,000) on each fishing boat for "illegal fishing" and to charge the crewmen with assaulting a coast guard officer, Yonhap News Agency said.
"The gunfire made the incident more serious than the previous clashes between Chinese fishermen and the ROK's coast guard, but further investigation should be done," said Zhang Liangui, an expert on Korean affairs at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing.
"It seems that both sides didn't remain calm during the incident," said Chen Qi, an expert on East Asian studies at Tsinghua University, "but we cannot interpret the ROK's firing as military provocation".
"And both sides should keep the situation under control, in case the incident escalates and triggers a wider dispute."
Last December, three Chinese crewmen were detained by the ROK for "illegal fishing" after a collision between a 63-ton Chinese trawler and a 3,000-ton ROK coast guard vessel, in which eight Chinese fishermen fell overboard, two of whom died and one is presumed dead.
The ROK coast guard officials questioned three rescued fishermen from the vessel but dropped the charges later for "lack of direct involvement in the incident" and "active cooperation in the investigation".
"Under the ROK-China Fishery Agreement, both countries' fishing boats are allowed to work in this water where Chinese and ROK authorities respectively regulate their own fishing boats, and can report each other's illegal activities in the water," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. "But neither is authorized to exercise law enforcement on the other country's fishing boats."
China Daily
(China Daily 03/05/2011 page7)