benarnews.org – Drake Long, Washington, 2020-05-12

Vietnam’s government on Tuesday encouraged the nation’s fishermen to keep operating around the disputed Paracel Islands, despite China’s unilaterally imposed fishing ban in the South China Sea, and directed provincial authorities to support Vietnamese fishermen at sea. That statement of defiance from Hanoi, calling the ban “invalid,” came as an oil exploration ship contracted by another South China Sea claimant, Malaysia, ended a survey farther south, off the Malaysian coast. The ship has been shadowed by Chinese ships for the past month. Continue reading on CVD >>