At another level, they are cat-and-mouse chases between the coast guards of several countries and foreign fishermen, and among the fishing boats themselves. Indonesia seized a Chinese fishing boat last month and arrested eight fishermen, only to have a Chinese coast guard vessel ram the fishing boat as it was being towed, allowing it to escape. Vietnam's coast guard chased away more than 100 Chinese boats over a two-week period, its state media reported this week, and made a rare seizure of a Chinese ship carrying 100,000 liters (26,400 gallons) of diesel oil, reportedly for sale to fishing boats in the area. The South China Sea, a hodgepodge of overlapping territorial claims in the Pacific, is both strategically important and a vital shipping route for international trade. More than once, a small team of Chinese coast guardsmen on a rubber boat approached his boat and pointed their rifles at him, but he says he knew they would not fire and risk starting a war. At other times, the Chinese will surge as if to hit his boat, but the 37-year-old fisherman uses his keen knowledge of Scarborough Shoal — where he has fished for Spanish mackerel, trevally and grouper since he was a teenager — to outmaneuver them. Conditions for Chinese fishermen have vastly improved with the addition of new and larger Chinese coast guard vessels and a more proactive approach, Li says. Heightened competition, and even banditry, is making it ever-harder to make a living, says Taiwanese fishing boat owner Hong Huai-jen. "[...] they are not only fishing in the South China Sea, but have also broken into our territorial waters," Hong says, standing by his boat in the southern Taiwan port of Donggang, which looks out on the Taiwan Strait. "Fishermen that come from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and China have told native fishermen that Natuna waters are their traditional fishing grounds since the time of their ancestors," says Leonard. N

Topics:  indonesia   the south china sea   pacific   scarborough shoal   spanish   conditions   li   heightened   huai-jen   south china sea   donggang   taiwan   strait   fishermen   thailand   malaysia   natuna   chinese   vietnam   china   hong   fishing   territorial   boat   coast   guard   boats   waters   
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