As the tension of the Philippine Versus China heated up for Chinese poaching the waters of the Philippines; China also faces embarrassment for the same conflict with Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam, and their close ally Russia.
The Russian coast guard seized two Chinese vessels and detained 36 fishermen Tuesday (July 18, 2012) after they were allegedly found fishing in Russian-controlled waters in the Sea of Japan, according to state media.
The consulate said it was notified by the coastal service in Russia's far eastern Primorsky region the two ships were seized because they had entered Russia's exclusive economic zone.
Warning shots were fired at one vessel during a three-hour pursuit by Russian Coast Guard, which eventually rammed the vessel and soldiers fired directly on the ship when sailors resisted being boarded, according to Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency, quoting a spokesman for the local border guards services, said a coast guard boat was forced to open fire to stop a poaching fishing vessel in the Sea of Japan. The spokesman said the vessel, flying the flag of China, refused to stop on demand from the coast guards and tried to escape, resulting in a three-hour chase.
The news agency said the vessel carried about 25 tons of squid and quoted the spokesman as saying 17 Chinese nationals failed to present documents allowing them to fish. The report said no one was injured.
One Chinese fisherman fell overboard during the seizure of one of the vessels and is missing, according to Russia's Coast Guard. The other 36 sailors are being detained in Russia.
The two vessels were detained for entering an exclusive economic zone in Russia's far eastern Primorsky region, the Chinese agency Xinhua said.
In a sign that Beijing is taking the incident seriously, conciliatory remarks by a Chinese consular official in the Russian border town of Khabarovsk were swiftly disavowed by Beijing, according to Chinese wire services. He had said that China "would not seek to politicize the incident."
The Chinese foreign ministry said the official who made the comment had been sent home in January and could not have made the remark, according to Interfax.
During Monday's incident one of the Chinese vessels tried to ram the Russian ship according to a Russian Coast Guard spokesman quoted on Russian news agency Interfax.
The Russian ship fired warning shots and then opened fire on the Chinese vessel, though no one was killed or injured from the shelling. The Russian spokesman said the Chinese sailor fell overboard during the collision between the two ships.
He also said that the Chinese sailors at first "resisted" Russian boarding attempts but surrendered after being fired upon.
The two ships were from the city of Weihai in China's eastern Shandong province, Chinese agency Xinhua said.
It was not the first time the Russian Coast Guard had fired on Chinese trawlers and detained them for poaching fish in Russian waters. Earlier incidents put a strain on relations between the two countries, who fought a brief border war in 1969.
Relations between Beijing and Moscow have steadily warmed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but the two countries maintain an uneasy partnership and Russia fears Chinese attempts to assert regional hegemony.
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