Vietnamese Armed Pirating Ships Robbed Chinese Fishing Boats in Beibu Gulf and Shot at Chinese Fishing Boats and Marine Police Patrol Ship in the First Place. The Chinese Marine Police are forced to Shoot Back for Self-Defense. Eight Armed Robbers are Shot Dead and 8 are caught. Weapons and Ammunitions and the Pirating Ship are confiscated

The frontier defense department of the Chinese public security authorities further confirmed that 6 fishing boats from Hainan Province, China, including a Boat named Qionglingao 11291, were robbed by 3 Vietnamese armed ships at 9:40 a.m., January 8 2005 when they were operating normally on the Chinese side of the China-Vietnam common fishing areas in Beibu Gulf. 310 fishing nets and a batch of fishing products worth more than RMB3 million were robbed. While chasing the pirating ships, the Chinese fishing boats were shot by them. Having received the alarm call for help from Chinese fishing boats, Boat 46085 of the Marine Police Detachment of Hainan Frontier Defense Contingent which was patrolling nearby came to handle the situation. The Vietnamese ships shot at the Chinese marine police in the first place and threw grenade and dynamite. Under the situation that the Chinese marine police showed their identity and the fired warning had no effect, the Chinese marine police are forced to shoot back and both sides exchanged fires. Finally, Chinese marine police intercepted one of the three ships within the Chinese sea area of eastern longitude 107°11′30″ and northern latitude 19°02′00″, 1.6 sea miles from the boundary line. The rest 2 ships escaped into the Vietnamese sea area. In the exchange of gunfire, 8 Vietnamese robbers were shot dead and 8 were captured. Chinese marine police confiscated one rifle, one pistol sheath and 88 bullets. Before China marine police got on the ship, the robbers threw the weapons into the sea. Three parts of the Boat 46085 were hit, with one marine police injured and 8 parts of Boat Qionglingao 11291 hit.

After the case took place, China informed the Vietnamese side according to the China-Vietnam Treaty of Consular Affairs and arranged visits by Vietnamese consular officials. Through interrogation of the 8 Vietnamese suspects as well as investigation and verification of all the witness testimony and material evidence, the Chinese law enforcement agencies proved that it is a premeditated armed robbery by the Vietnamese armed personnel to Chinese fishing boats. Since the Agreement on the Delimitation of the Territorial Sea in Beibu Gulf and the Agreement between the two sides on Fishery Co-operation in Beibu Gulf came into force, the general situation in the Beibu Gulf is stable, but there also occurred many cases of robbery targeted at Chinese fishing boats, which seriously threatened the life and property safety of Chinese fisherman. China hopes that both parties could make joint efforts to combat marine crimes, creating a stable and harmonized environment for the normal fishing production of the fishermen of the two countries.