Argentine and China incident

[danb]

On Monday (March 14) Argentina sank a Chinese-flagged trawler illegally fishing in its territorial waters.

Interesting story:

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/argentina-sank-a-chinese-trawler-fishing-illegally-in-its-territorial-waters/ar-BBqwxgP

 

Seems to be a bit of extreme action. But then again not sure what they should have done. If I was the Captain of a trawler I don't think I would try ramming a boat that firing shells at my ship. I wonder how China will view the incident. Danb

[Randy W]

China expresses serious concern over trawler sinking near Argentina

(Xinhua) 13:53, March 16, 2016

The Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassy in Argentina have urgently lodged representations with the Argentine side, expressing grave concern over the incident, according to Lu.

China demanded the Argentine side to thoroughly investigate the incident and update the Chinese side, and safeguard Chinese sailors' security and legitimate rights and interests.

"China urged the Argentine side to take effective measures to prevent such incident from happening again," Lu said.

 

 

[Randy W]

in the Shanghaiist

 

Argentina sinks Chinese vessel for fishing illegally off its coast, China calls for an investigation

 

The statement says that the Argentine coast guard first fired a series of warning shots over the Chinese vessel. The ship responded by turning off its lights and deliberately trying to capsize.

"On distinct occasions, the offending boat realized maneuvers aimed at colliding with the coast guard, putting not only its own crew at risk, but also the personnel of the coast guard," the statement said.

Responding to this threat, the coast guard then opened fire into the Chinese ship's hull.

 

[Greg.D.]

Stretching the boundaries (and crossing them) is common in everyday business affairs in China - from my experience - and not unique to Chinese. They are probably surprised they have only lost so few ships until now.

 

The ministry said four Chinese were picked up by the Argentines and 28 more were rescued by a nearby Chinese vessel.

 

So far from home and another China flagged ship so close by!! Anyway, business as usual. I predict the China nuclear reactor projects to continue in Argentina.

[warpedbored]

Pretty soon the 9 dash line will encircle the 7 seas.

[wawster]

Well, this is a different viewpoint, and may not be valid. In my days in the Navy, it was VERY common (ie: Dang near ALL the time) to see "fishing trawlers" that were just loaded up with electronic gear, ECM gear, sniffers, etc. hanging off the coast a few miles out. Back in the '70s, they were Russian and Chinese, mostly, catching whatever transmissions they could get. While in the Mediterranean, my destroyer had to zig-zag our way through them, there were so many, and we darn near had one try to commit boat-a-cide by cutting in front of our bow, while we were in war games in Guantanamo Bay, they were so close. That one was Chinese.

 

The fact that the trawler tried to capsize purposely reminds me of similar tactics used by the phony "trawlers" back in the 70's to avoid possible boarding and discovery of the gear. Just sayin....

[Greg.D.]

Good comment, Wawster! I hadn't even thought of that angle and it does make some sense of the intentionally-trying-to-sink-their-own-ship maneuver.

[amberjack1234]

They played the same games in the air up at the arctic circle in the late 60's/early 70's but they were all Russian. We, of course, were doing the same thing Google "operation Chrome Dome"

Edited March 18, 2016 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)