Chinese ships are accused of violent attacks in the South China Sea

Chinese government officials attacked a Vietnamese fishing boat in disputed waters of the South China Sea on Sunday, seriously injuring several fishermen, Vietnamese state media reported.

The incident occurred in the Paracel Islands, about 250 miles east of Vietnam and 220 miles southeast of Hainan Island in China. Both neighbors claim the Paracels, although China has retained de facto control of the archipelago since capturing it in 1974 after a battle with then-South Vietnamese naval forces.

China's “dotted line” claims, which include most features of the South China Sea, have put it at odds with several neighbors. The sometimes violent clashes with the Philippines within the exclusive economic zone of the US treaty ally have made most of the headlines in recent years.

The Vietnamese and Chinese foreign ministries did not immediately respond to written requests for comment. The Beijing Foreign Ministry on Tuesday rejected the fishing crew's claims.

Pung Ba Vuong, the chairman of a local jurisdiction in Binh Sơn district in the northern coastal province of Quang Ngai, said he had been informed that local anglers' fishing boats had been blocked while they were operating near the Paracel Islands, according to a source state media outlet Tien Phong reported on Monday.

Later that day, local security officials identified a 40-year-old man named Nguyen Than Bien as the captain of the 70-foot fishing vessel QNg 95739 TS. He said seven of the boat's 10 crew members were injured in the incident, including three who broke an arm or a leg.

The Chinese government ships behind the alleged attack were identified by their hull numbers 101 and 301. Both vessels, each over 300 feet long, are part of the Sansha City Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau based in Sansha City in China's southernmost province of Hainan.

The ships sent three rigid-hulled inflatable boats to pursue the Vietnamese boat before surrounding and boarding it around 10 a.m

Nguyen told VTC News that about 40 people then streamed onto his ship and began beating the crew with iron bars about one meter long. He said one of the attackers hit him so hard that he lost consciousness.

“After beating us, they forced us to the bow of the ship and forced us to hold our heads with our hands and bow,” said a crew member named Huynh Tien Cong. “I was beaten so badly that my arms and legs were broken.”

He added that Chinese personnel also destroyed most of the ship's equipment and set off with about six tons of the crew's catch.

Vietnam-based security analyst Duan Dang shared data from his real-time tracking and analysis platform GEOINT.asia showing the Chinese ships were still in the area as of Monday morning.

“Such attacks and robberies occur almost every year,” Dang said Newsweek. He referred to a similar incident last year in which crew members of another Quang Ngai-based fishing boat were reportedly injured by a Chinese water cannon.

Chinese forces acted “professionally and cautiously” against Vietnamese boats fishing illegally in the Paracel Islands, a ministry spokesman told Reuters, adding that no injuries were reported.

While Hanoi's relations with Beijing have generally become friendlier in recent years, the Southeast Asian country occasionally publicly rebukes its larger neighbor, such as in March after China said it would expand its territorial claims with a new baseline in the Gulf of Tonkin.