China releases Vietnamese fishermen but keeps boat

May 4, 2010, 4:30 GMT

Hanoi - China has released 23 Vietnamese fishermen from two boats seized by patrols off the Paracel Islands in March and April, but has kept one of the boats, a Vietnamese official said Tuesday.

Mounting clashes between Chinese fishing patrols and Vietnamese fishermen are the front line in the countries' dispute over territorial claims in the South China Sea. The area is believed to contain substantial undersea mineral deposits.

The 23 fishermen in the most recent incidents were arrested by Chinese patrols off the Paracels on March 25 and April 14, around 500 kilometres south of the Chinese mainland, and 400 kilometres east of the northern Vietnamese coast.

Colonel Bui Phu Phu, deputy chief of Vietnam's coast guard in the fishermen's home province of Quang Ngai, was not sure what day the men had been released, but said all had reached home by Tuesday on one of the two seized boats.

'We asked them to release the fishermen unconditionally, but they are still holding one of the boats,' Phu said.

The boat being held is the newer of the two. Phu said the owner reported the boat was worth about 26,000 dollars, and that his family was too poor to pay a fine of some 10,000 dollars demanded by the Chinese for the boat's release.

According to Vietnamese statistics, China detained or seized 33 Vietnamese fishing boats and 433 crew members in 2009.