Fast forward a few months and then this happened a few weeks back (not got round to posting on it at the time - Foreigner in Formosa has a great post on this including video):
South Korean officials questioned three Chinese fishermen rescued from a boat that capsized during a maritime scuffle with the coast guard in which one fisherman died and another was missing, an official said yesterday.
About 50 Chinese fishing boats were illegally fishing in western South Korean waters off Gunsan, about 270km south of Seoul, on Saturday when a South Korean coast guard ship approached them to try to curb illegal fishing activities, according to the coast guard.
The boat that capsized had intentionally hit the larger coast guard ship, apparently to help its compatriots sail back to Chinese waters, coast guard official Roh Sang-gue said.
Five people from the capsized boat were rescued by Chinese fishing boats, while four others were plucked from the sea by the coast guard ship, Roh said. However, one of four sailors rescued by South Korea later died at a Gunsan hospital, Roh said.
“Questioning is under way for the three Chinese why their ship hit the coast guard vessel,” Roh said, without giving further details.
Coast guard officers fought with fishermen on other Chinese boats, who wielded steel pipes, shovels and clubs, and four of the officers suffered broken arms and other injuries, the coast guard said in a statement on Saturday. None of the injuries was life-threatening.Not that this is new ....
More than 300 Chinese fishing boats are captured for fishing illegally in South Korean waters every year, according to South Korea’s coast guard. In 2008, one South Korean coast guard officer was killed and six others injured in a maritime scuffle with Chinese fishermen fishing in South Korean waters.The reaction of netizens in China? ....
China’s Internet chatrooms were brimming with anger yesterday after a Chinese fishing boat captain died and another went missing following a collision with a South Korean coast guard ship on Saturday.
Beijing has so far refrained from official comment about the incident.
Using an obscenity to describe South Koreans, one micro-blogger named Qiu Yang from Hunan Province accused Seoul of “flaunting powerful friends to bully others”.
“We must help the North Koreans to destroy the US-South Korean alliance,” Qiu wrote on popular Web portal sina.com.
Another Web user identified as Cai Xia from the northeast wrote: “The little Japanese didn’t dare to kill any of us in the ship collision near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台); how can the number two devil be so brash to do such a thing!”
“South Korea, the running dog of America, is seeking to provoke China — what are they thinking,” said another irate Internet user from Anhui Province.
“South Korea, again it is you bastards and this was not even in your fishing waters. You should mind your own ways. One day you will disappear from Asia,” a Chinese Web user from Sichuan Province said on sina.com.Note that Beijing had no reaction whatsoever. In the incident with Japan, no-one was hurt but China threw a massive hissy fit that had everyone wondering if China and Japan were moving towards a cold war. In this incident one Chinese sailor died, and no reaction. But also note the vehemence of some of the Chinese bloggers that equals the hatred earlier expressed towards Japan, including threats to wipe them off the map, collude with the dictatorship to the north and arbitrary claims upon territory that doesn't belong to them.
Following both these incidents, China has threatened to send large and numerous ships to both areas to press its claim over seas in which it previously exercised no authority whatsoever.
My question is "Why the selective and disproportionate response?". Answer? The obvious conclusion is a combination geo-strategic manoeuvring and nationalism - China wants domain over all the waters within the first island chain to protect fuel supplies and its shipping. It has after all been using fishing trawlers as proxy PLAN boats to literally test the waters and resolve of its neighbours. But then again, maybe its not entirely a political issue but rather because China also has rising demand coupled with a food shortage and needs more fish than ever before so it can do this:
Here's their description:
Live hairy crabs are displayed in a vending machine at a main subway station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province Dec 17, 2010. The crab dispenser was designed by Shi Tuanjie, Chairman of the Nanjing Shuanghu Crab Industrial Company, who came out with the idea of a crab dispenser 3 years ago. This is the first live crab vending machine in China, and was installed on October 1 this year. The crabs cost from 10 yuan ($1.50) to 50 yuan ($7.50), depending on size and gender, and customers are promised a compensation of 3 live crabs if their purchase is dead. The machine sells an average of 200 live crabs daily. Shi plans to popularize the machines on a larger scale to airports, residential areas and supermarkets, according to local media. [Photo/Agencies]
