HANOI: Vietnam condemned China on Thursday, saying Chinese law enforcement personnel assaulted 10 Vietnamese fishermen, damaged their fishing gear and seized about 4 tons of fish catch near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
The fishermen reported the assault near the Chinese-controlled islands by radio on Sunday but did not identify the attackers.
Three of the fishermen suffered broken limbs and the rest sustained other injuries, according to Vietnamese state media. Some were taken on stretchers to a hospital after they returned to Quang Ngai province late Monday.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Chinese law enforcement personnel on Thursday for the high-seas attack, saying they had “seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty in the Paracel Islands,” international law and an agreement by the leaders of the two countries to better manage their territorial disputes.
Chinese officials did not immediately issue a reaction.
Vietnam conveyed a protest and alarm over the attack to the Chinese ambassador in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.
Vietnam demanded that Beijing respect its sovereignty in the Paracel Islands, launch an investigation and provide it with information about the attack, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in a statement.
China has become increasingly aggressive in asserting its claims in virtually the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in global trade transits each year. The sea passage is also believed to be sitting atop vast undersea deposits of oil and gas.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the strategic waterway.
The United States has no claims in the disputed waters, but has deployed Navy ships and Air Force fighter jets to patrol the waterway and promote freedom of navigation and overflight. China has warned the US not to meddle in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement Thursday on the social media platform X that the US “is deeply concerned by reports of dangerous actions by (Chinese) law enforcement vessels against Vietnamese fishing vessels around the Paracel Islands on September 29. We call on (China) to desist from dangerous and destabilizing conduct in the South China Sea.”
The Vietnamese newspaper Tien Phong cited one of the fishermen, Tran Tien Cong, as saying that two foreign boats approached them from the rear and that personnel from the vessels boarded their boat and started beating the fishermen with a meter-long (three-foot-long) pole, apparently made of iron.
The Vietnamese fishermen panicked and did not fight back because they were overwhelmed by an estimated 40 attackers, it said. Another fisherman, Nguyen Thuong, was cited as saying that the attackers, who spoke through a translator, ordered them to sail back to Vietnam. The assailants then seized their fishing gear and fish catch.
After being beaten, the Vietnamese fishermen were forced to kneel and were covered with plastic sheets before the attackers left.
The Paracel Islands lie about 400 kilometers (250 miles) off Vietnam’s eastern coast and about the same distance from China’s southernmost province of Hainan. Both countries, along with the self-governing island of Taiwan, claim the islands.
The islands have been under the de facto control of China since 1974, when Beijing seized them from Vietnam in a brief but violent naval conflict.
Last year, satellite photos showed that China appeared to be building an airstrip on Triton Island in the Paracel group. At the time, it appeared the airstrip would be big enough to accommodate turboprop aircraft and drones but not fighter jets or bombers.
China has also had a small harbor and buildings on the island for years, along with a helipad and radar arrays.
China has refused to provide details of its island construction work other than to say it is aimed at promoting global navigation safety.
It has rejected accusations, including by the US, that it is militarizing the sea passage.
Vietnam condemns China for assault on its fishermen in the disputed South China Sea
https://arab.news/g5d42
Vietnam condemns China for assault on its fishermen in the disputed South China Sea
- Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed Chinese law enforcement personnel on Thursday for the high-seas attack, saying it “seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty in the Paracel islands
Pakistan seals off capital, blocks cellphones ahead of protest by Imran Khan’s party
- It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release
- Islamabad police warn they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital
It would be the latest in a series of protest rallies since last month to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition government, which the party calls illegitimate, saying it was formed after a fraudulent election.
Shipping containers have been placed to block Islamabad’s entry and exit points, guarded by large numbers of police and paramilitary troops, the officials said, while police banned any gathering in the capital.
“If someone plans to storm Islamabad, we wouldn’t let that happen,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told a news conference late on Thursday.
He urged Khan’s party to shift the rally to later dates, to avoid disrupting Islamabad’s preparations to host a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is visiting, to be followed by a high-profile Saudi delegation and Chinese Premier Li Qiang ahead of the conference, Naqvi said, adding, “We can’t allow any chaos.”
Any agitation in the capital would not send a good signal to the world ahead of the conference, Naqvi said.
Disregarding the appeal, Khan asked his supporters to gather outside parliament regardless of obstacles.
“I want you all to reach D-Chowk today for a peaceful protest rally,” he posted on X on Friday, referring to a spot outside parliament. “This war has entered a decisive phase.”
Even though Khan has been in jail since Aug 2023, candidates backed by him won the most seats in February’s general election, though their numbers were insufficient to form a government.
His opponents, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, formed a coalition government instead.
In a statement on Friday, Islamabad police warned they would take action against anyone attempting to disturb the peace in the capital, adding that any gathering had been banned.
Schools were shut and cellphone services suspended in Islamabad and the adjacent garrison city of Rawalpindi.
A telecoms official said cellphone services were blocked on directions from the interior ministry. A ministry spokesman did not respond to a request for a comment.
WHO approves first mpox diagnostic test
- More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the African Union’s disease control center
GENEVA: The UN health agency said on Friday that it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox, a key tool in countries battling outbreaks.
More than 800 people have died across Africa from mpox, where the disease has been officially detected in 16 countries, according to the African Union’s disease control center.
“The approval for emergency use” of the test “will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.
The test, called the Alinity m MPXV assay and manufactured by Abbott Molecular Inc., enables the detection of the mpox virus from swabs taken from human lesions.
“By detecting DNA from pustular or vesicular rash samples, laboratory and health workers can confirm suspected mpox cases efficiently and effectively,” the WHO said.
“Limited testing capacity and delays in confirming mpox cases persist in Africa, contributing to the continued spread of the virus,” it said.
The approval of the test “represents a significant milestone in expanding testing availability in affected countries,” the statement quoted Yukiko Nakatani, an assistant director-general of WHO, as saying.
“Increasing access to quality-assured medical products is central to our efforts in assisting countries to contain the spread of the virus and protect their people, especially in underserved regions,” Nakatani said.
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.
It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.
Philippines detains more than 250 in scam hub raid
- International concern has been growing over similar scam farms in Asia, often staffed by victims of trafficking who were tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments and other cons
MANILA: Philippine authorities have detained more than 250 people, most of them Chinese, in a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Police and other authorities raided the office building late Thursday to find staff with hundreds of phones, computers, and pre-registered international and local SIM cards, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said.
“These are red flags of love scamming that victimizes foreign nationals,” the commission said in a statement, referring to schemes in which scammers pretend to have romantic feelings for their victims in order to earn their trust and eventually steal their money.
International concern has been growing over similar scam farms in Asia, often staffed by victims of trafficking who were tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments and other cons.
In July, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos outlawed all forms of offshore gaming operators, including Internet gaming license holders, after the gambling industry was found to be linked to financial scams, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, torture and murder.
Thousands of foreign workers at the outlawed firms were given two months to leave the Philippines.
In the Manila raid on Thursday, 190 Chinese, two Taiwanese and 62 Filipinos were detained at the offices of a company called 3D Analyzer Information Technologies Inc.
The company used to have an Internet gaming license but subsequently told regulators it had “ceased operations,” Gilberto Cruz, the executive director of the anti-crime commission, told AFP.
“We’re looking for their passports or working visas, but they couldn’t show us anything,” Cruz added.
The commission will liaise with the Beijing and Taipei missions to help identify and arrange the deportation of the foreigners, the official said.
Meanwhile, Filipinos found to be involved in scamming activities will be charged in court, he added.
Cruz said the commission would also apply to the courts for warrants to search computers found inside the office.
Malaysia’s Anwar to visit Bangladesh to discuss trade, migrant workers with interim leader Yunus
- It is the first visit by a foreign leader to Bangladesh since Yunus took over on Aug. 8 after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India
DHAKA: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit Bangladesh on Friday to meet with interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who took over in August after the former prime minister fled during a mass uprising.
Anwar’s hourslong visit will focus on trade and investment, migrant workers and the Rohingya refugee crisis, officials and media reports said.
It is the first visit by a foreign leader to Bangladesh since Yunus took over on Aug. 8 after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India . It is also the first state visit by a Malaysian leader to Bangladesh in 11 years.
Anwar, who is arriving from Pakistan, is leading a 58-member delegation.
Next year, Malaysia will chair the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, and Bangladesh is eager to increase its trade with that region.
Bangladesh is also pursuing a policy of increasingly involving ASEAN in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis. More than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in camps in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh was Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia in 2023, with total trade reaching $2.78 billion, according to official figures.
Malaysia is also one of the leading destinations for Bangladeshi migrant workers. Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi workers are employed as low-skilled workers in Malaysia’s construction, manufacturing, plantation and services sectors. But the recruiting process is often corrupt, and allegations of rights violations by Malaysian employers and Bangladeshi recruiting agencies are rampant.
More than 6,000 Bangladeshi students study at Malaysian higher education institutions, according to 2023 figures.
India asks top court not to toughen marital rape penalties
- Penal code introduced during British colonial rule of India explicitly states that ‘sexual acts by a man with his own wife... is not rape’
- India’s current penal code mandates a minimum 10-year sentence for those convicted of rape
MUMBAI: India’s government has asked the country’s top court not to toughen criminal penalties against marital rape during an ongoing case brought by campaigners seeking to outlaw it.
The penal code introduced in the 19th century during British colonial rule of India explicitly states that “sexual acts by a man with his own wife... is not rape.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government enacted an overhauled code in July which retains that clause, despite the decade-long court challenge by activists seeking to make marital rape illegal.
India’s interior ministry filed an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Thursday stating that while marital rape should result in “penal consequences,” the legal system should treat it more leniently than rape committed outside of marriage.
“A husband certainly does not have any fundamental right to violate the consent of his wife,” the affidavit said, according to The Indian Express newspaper.
“However, attracting the crime in the nature of ‘rape’ as recognized in India to the institution of marriage can be arguably considered to be excessively harsh.”
India’s current penal code mandates a minimum 10-year sentence for those convicted of rape.
The government’s statement said that marital rape was adequately addressed in existing laws, including a 2005 law protecting women from domestic violence.
That law recognizes sexual abuse as a form of domestic violence but does not prescribe any criminal penalties to perpetrators.
Another section of the penal code punishes broadly defined acts of “cruelty” by a husband against their wife with prison terms of up to three years.
Six percent of Indian married women aged 18-49 have reported spousal sexual violence, according to the government’s latest National Family Health Survey conducted from 2019 to 2021.
In the world’s most populous country, that implies more than 10 million women have been victims of sexual violence at the hands of their husbands.
Nearly 18 percent of married women also feel they cannot say no if their husbands want sex, according to the survey.
Divorce remains taboo across much of India with only one in every 100 marriages ending in dissolution, often owing to family and social pressure to sustain unhappy marriages.
Chronic backlogs in India’s criminal justice system mean some cases take decades to reach a resolution, and the case pushing for the criminalization of marital rape has made painfully slow progress.
It was referred to the Supreme Court after a two-judge bench in the Delhi High Court issued a split verdict in May 2022.
One judge in that case ruled that while “one may disapprove” of a husband forcibly having sex with his wife, that “cannot be equated with the act of ravishing by a stranger.”
