Strategic Situational Awareness in the South China Sea
Editor's note
In August, the illegal actions of Vietnamese fishing boats were somewhat curtailed, but China is still the biggest "victim" in comparison.
In August, 78,778 trajectory points of 6,450 Vietnamese fishing boats in the entire South China Sea were recorded by AIS, which is about a third reduction of compared with July.
Inshore waters of Mainland China and Hainan Island
In August, at least 318 Vietnamese fishing boats invaded the coastal waters of Mainland China and Hainan Island (the scope is as follows: China waters of Beibu Gulf, excluding the central waters of the common fishing zone; Guangdong; And the internal waters and territorial waters of Hainan Island; the southeast waters of Hainan Island and the area about 30 nautical miles beyond the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters of Guangdong), a significant decrease from the 702 ships in July. The intrusion into China’s territorial waters and internal waters is still severe. There are 75 ships, which is only a slight drop from the 91 ships in July.
In terms of the distribution of , most of the intrusive Vietnamese fishing vessels are located in the Chinese waters of the Beibu Gulf, while some Vietnamese fishing vessels are still gathering in the southeast of Hainan Island and the Guangdong waters.
Vietnamese fishing boats frequently trigger maritime conflicts
In August, the coastal countries of the South China Sea, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, significantly increased their crackdowns on illegal activities by Vietnamese fishing boats. In the past month, Vietnam’s illegal, unreported, and unregulated (Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated, IUU) fishing boats were frequently caught by maritime law enforcement forces. According to "Vietnamese fishing boats frequently "touch porcelain" in the South China Sea, it has caused a crisis. 》According to statistics [1], in August, a total of 24 Vietnamese fishing boats and 230 Vietnamese fishermen were arrested for IUU fishing. During this period, there was a maritime conflict that caused casualties. constitutes the maritime safety and resource protection of the South China Sea. Severe challenge .
Among them, in the early morning of August 17, a Vietnamese fishing boat in Malaysian waters, collided with the Malaysian coast guard and threw a molotov cocktail at it. Police Ma Hai disconnected his gun for self-defense, causing a Vietnamese fisherman to be shot and killed by .
A homemade Molotov cocktail that Vietnamese fishermen will have time to ignite in the future. Source: Abdullah Benjakat, Bangkok Post
The frequent intrusion of Vietnamese fishing boats has also occurred in the Thai waters. In less than a week, two Vietnamese fishing boats were arrested for illegal activities.
The Vietnamese fishing boat detained by Thai law enforcement forces. Source: Abdullah Benjakat, Bangkok Post
On August 17, the Thai maritime patrol boat detained 4 Vietnamese fishing vessels and 36 crew members in Thailand’s exclusive economic zone; on August 21, another A Vietnamese fishing boat was arrested in the Gulf of Thailand.
It is worth noting that none of the above-mentioned detained fishing boats have found AIS signals, indicating that there are still a large number of Vietnamese fishing boats that have not been counted by us.
Vietnam has achieved initial results in combating IUU fishing?
In August, the number and scope of the activities of Vietnamese fishing boats in the South China Sea decreased significantly. Does this mean that Vietnam's control of IUU fishing has achieved initial results?
We think it is too early to make such a judgment. The number of Vietnamese fishing boats has plummeted. On the one hand, due to the frequent occurrence of typhoons in the South China Sea and surrounding areas in August, bad weather objectively raised the illegal "threshold" for Vietnamese fishing boats. On the other hand, the coastal countries of the South China Sea have also significantly increased law enforcement. In the past month, there have been intensive conflicts between Vietnamese fishing boats and maritime law enforcement forces of the coastal countries of the South China Sea, forcing the illegal actions of Vietnamese fishing boats to be restrained. But by comparison, China is still the biggest "victim".
By comparing the activities of Vietnamese fishing boats in the waters of China and other South China Sea coastal countries, it is not difficult to find that the sudden decrease in the number of Vietnamese fishing boats is mainly due to external factors such as weather conditions and law enforcement forces. However, in Beibu Gulf, which is less affected by typhoons and more difficult to enforce In Chinese waters, illegal activities by Vietnamese fishing boats are still very active. This also shows that Vietnam itself may not really be determined to manage this issue.
References
[1] Wang Tengfei, Yan Yan, Wang Siyu, Song Runqian: "Vietnamese fishing boats in the South China Sea frequently "touch porcelain" causing crises", South China Sea Strategic Situation Awareness Program, August 31, 2020, http://www.scspi. org/zh/dtfx/1598860870
[2] "Shooting of Vietnamese fisherman: Firearm rules followed, says MMEA," The Star, 17 August 2020,
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/08 /17/shooting-of-vietnamese-fisherman-firearm-rules-followed-says-mmea.
[3] Nurulhuda, “APMM tahan 25 nelayan Vietnam ceroboh perairan negara,” Air Times, 16 August 2020, https://www .airtimes.my/2020/08/16/apmm-tahan-25-nelayan-vietnam-ceroboh-perairan-negara/.
[4] “Nelayan Vietnam maut terkena tembakan anggota APMM”, BH Online, 17 August 2020.
[5] Basten Gokkon, “Indonesia's crackdown on illegal fishing is paying off, study finds,” Mongabay, 23 April 2018, https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/indonesias-crackdown-on-illegal-fishing- is-paying-off-study-finds/.
[6] “Indonesia bắt giữ 3 tàu cá, 29 ngư dân Việt Nam,” 20 August 2020, https://plo.vn/thoi-su/indonesia-bat- giu-3-tau-ca-29-ngu-d an-viet-nam-933219.html.
[7] “Vietnam Illegal Fishing Ships Arrested in North Natuna Sea,” 22 August 2020, https://en.tempo.co/read/1378431/vietnam-illegal-fishing- ships-arrested-in-north-natuna-sea.
[8] “Vietnamese-flagged illegal fishing vessel caught in North Natuna Sea News Desk,” The Jakarta Post, 26 August, 2020, https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/08/25/vietnamese-flagged-illegal-fishing-vessel-caught-in-north-natuna-sea.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter.
[9] “Vietnamese fishing boats caught in Thai waters,” Bangkok Post, 18 August 2020, https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1970303/vietnamese-fishing-boats-caught-in-thai-waters.
[10 ] “Vietnamese fishing boat seized off Narathiwat,” Bangkok Post, 22 August 2020, https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1970303/vietnamese-fishing-boats-caught-in-thai-watershttps://www .bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1972735.
About "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness": To maintain and promote the peace, stability and prosperity of the South China Sea, we launched the "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness" program (SCSPI), dedicated to bringing together the world's Intellectual resources and open source information, continue to track the important actions and major policy trends of major stakeholders and responsible parties in the South China Sea, provide professional data services and analysis reports, and help all parties manage differences, surpass competition, and move toward cooperation.
"Vietnamese Fishing Vessel Tracking and Surveillance Project": "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness Program" (SCSPI) launched the "Vietnamese Fishing Vessel Tracking and Surveillance Project" in January 2020, aiming to clarify relevant details through data and bring more domestic and foreign experts and scholars And the general public understand this serious situation of Vietnamese fishing boats invading Chinese waters. The project relies on the commercial data of the "Automatic Identification System" (AIS), and on the basis of the secondary data mining and sorting, the situation report of Vietnamese fishing vessels in Hainan Island and other waters is regularly released.
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