Bea Allyson Alimangohan

The National Security Council of the Philippines (NSC) announced on October 4, that they supported Vietnam’s complaints against the ‘unjustified’ actions of Chinese maritime.

Photo Courtesy of The Nation.

“We stand with Vietnam in denouncing this egregious act and call for accountability,” the NSC said in their Facebook post.

In the statement released by the National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo M. Año, the Philippines strongly condemned the use of force and violence of Chinese authorities against the Vietnamese fishermen.

On October 3, Vietnamese fishermen protested to China because of the attack they received from Chinese maritime authorities on September 29 near the Paracel Islands.

According to the reports, the Chinese law enforcements took out the fishing equipment of Vietnamese boats and beated the fishermen with iron pipes which injured 10 people.

The NSC reasoned that Chinese maritime’s actions against Vietnamese fishermen are unacceptable based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and they violated basic human dignity.

China’s foreign ministry disputed that their authorities ‘took measures to stop‘ the illegal fishing of the fishermen without a permission from their government.

The Paracel Islands are also called Hoang Sa by the Vietnamese which is located in the South China Sea as China was claiming it.

“Fishermen, as vulnerable maritime workers, deserve protection—not harm—at sea,” the NSC proposed to halt activities that may harm the fishermen’s lives and promote international maritime laws.