FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF CHINESE EMBASSY Jan 27, 2005

Worldwide Demonstration Jan 29, 2005 to Protest China's killing and wounding almost 20 innocent Vietnamese fishermen in Vietnamese waters

Demonstrations by Vietnamese Canadian Community in front of Embassy of China in Ottawa and Consulates Generals in Vancouver, Calgary

Dear News Reporters

On January 8, 2005 while the whole world were busy and concentrated efforts to raise funds and send emergency assistances to Tsunami victims, Communist Chinese Navy received order from their central government and invaded Vietnamese waters shooting with maximum firepower, killing 9 and serously wounding 7 innocent Vietnamese fishermen, kidnapping a boat with 8 fishermen and seizing the other with all dead bodies. One of the three Vietnamese boats escaped back to Vietnam shore with 528 bullet holes, all three were wooden boats used solely for net fishing purpose.

These Vietnamese are professional fishermen and never crossed Chinese water border and in fact far from it. After killing, China lied that those were robbers who tried to rob Chinese fishes and must be punished. So far, China still keeps all bodies and do not want to return to their miserable families in Vietnam for funeral, and China is pressuring Vietnamese government to have those victims cremated in order to destroy proofs of their massacre of innocent people. Chinese power has gotten out of control and started invading neighbors' waters, pirating ships and exploring petroleum in South China seas. There were over 1,000 violations to Vietnamese waters and land last year. Recently, Chinese submarines invaded Japanese waters and caused serious tension in the region for their greedy ambition as economic and military superpower to replace USSR in the world conquerance facing the USA in the future.

Killing innocent people during peace time for no reason is an inhumanitarian and barbarous act in order to provoke war in the region. We, the Vietnamese Canadian Community set up demonstration this Saturday Jan 29, 2005 at 10:30 AM to 12:30 noon in front of Embassy of China 515 St Patrick, Ottawa, Consulate Generals of China 1011 6th Ave. SWCalgary, Alberta and 3389 Granville St, Vancouver. And other Vietnamese on the same day same hour will demonstrate at all Chinese Embassies worldwide.

You are invited to come to witness and report the news to public. We call you and all Canadians regarless origin to support us in stopping crimes against humanity by Chinese military power.

Vietnamese Canadian Community

http://www.thsv.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=578 Vietnam Accuses China of Violating Law After Shooting

Vietnam accused China of violating international law after Chinese naval police killed several Vietnamese citizens earlier this month in a fishing area in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Vietnam's government said the fishermen were attacked on Jan. 8. China said Chinese fishermen in its territorial waters in what it calls the Beibu Gulf came under attack from armed robbers in three ships. The fishermen called for help from China's naval police, who returned fire after shots were fired from the ships, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

"That the Chinese naval police used weapons to kill innocent people is a serious violation of international laws," Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said in a statement. "Vietnam demands the Chinese side take immediate measures to prevent any similar wrongful actions, implement investigations, and strictly punish the killers."

Vietnam and China reached agreements in 2000 on sea borders and fishing cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin, according to the Web site of China's Foreign Ministry. This month's incident violated those accords and other agreements between the neighboring countries, Dung said.

Chinese fishermen and naval police were attacked first, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said on Jan. 18 in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.

"The Chinese maritime police were forced to take necessary actions, shot several armed robbers dead, captured one pirate ship and eight robbers and confiscated their weapons, ammunition and tools on the spot," Kong said in the statement. "The robbers captured admitted themselves Vietnamese and confessed every criminal fact."

China's government informed Vietnam about the incident based on treaties between the two countries and will follow Chinese law in pursuing the case, Kong said.

Eight armed robbers who attacked Chinese fishing boats on Jan. 8 on the Chinese side of the Beibu Gulf were killed and eight others captured, China's official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday, citing China's Foreign Ministry.

Chinese fishermen were robbed of more than $360,000 worth of fishing nets and fish products, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry account, Xinhua said.

Vietnam's government said its nationals involved in the incident were "honest laborers." Vietnam demanded repatriation of detainees and the payment of compensation for the losses of Vietnamese fishermen.

Representatives from the Vietnamese consulate in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou arrived on China's Hainan Island Jan. 21 to visit detained Vietnamese nationals, inspect the bodies of those who died, and meet with concerned Chinese agencies, the Vietnam News reported today.

The recorded history of clashes between the Chinese and Vietnamese dates back to at least the first century, when two Vietnamese sisters led a national uprising against Chinese rule.

Chinese forces invaded Vietnam in 1979 after Vietnam in 1977 sent troops into Cambodia, known then as Kampuchea, and helped install a pro-Vietnamese government there two years later. China refused to normalize relations with Vietnam until Vietnamese troops were withdrawn from Cambodia.

Though diplomatic relations were normalized in 1991, followed by a 1999 agreement on land borders and the 2000 maritime accord, outstanding disputes include competing claims to the Spratly Islands.

"If the Vietnamese who were killed or detained were in fact robbers, particularly if they were armed, then they were pirates and China had not only the right but the duty to suppress them," said Mark Valencia, a Hawaii-based expert on maritime policy and boundary disputes, in a telephone interview.

"On the other hand, if they were only illegally fishing, then China should not have used lethal force and there are provisions in the Tonkin Gulf treaty to handle such a situation," he said. "And the fisheries agreement also does call for a common fishing area, where both sides can fish."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi in October, a visit termed "a crucial political event" by Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An.

"It's disappointing that they have a treaty and this kind of thing can still occur," Valencia said. "But I don't think it's going to fundamentally affect Chinese-Vietnamese relations."

Vietnamese diplomats visit detained fishermen in China

Representatives of Vietnam's Consulate General in Guangzhou province arrived in Hainan on Friday to visit Vietnamese fishermen being detained by the Chinese side.

They also held a working session with concerned Chinese agencies to discuss issues relating to the recent killing of eight Vietnamese fishermen by Chinese coast guards.

The eight people were killed on January 8 while lawfully fishing in the common fishing ground in the western area of the demarcation line in the Tonkin Gulf.

The Vietnamese diplomats inspected the victims' bodies which are being kept in a cool room in Hainan.

China has asked Vietnam to send forensic experts to Hainan for post-mortem examinations.

The latest reports have said that the two injured fishermen have recovered and all eight detained people have been treated well by the Chinese side.

Relevant Vietnamese agencies and the deceased's relatives are preparing to bring the bodies back to Vietnam.

-- (Sáu Bi Da @ Saigong.Net), January 29, 2005