Russian coast guard fires on Chinese boats in Sea of Japan

The Russian patrol vessel that sank a Chinese fishing boat in 2009, causing eight deaths.
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Two Chinese fishing boats were fired upon by the Russian coast guard vessel Dzerzhinsky in the Sea of Japan on July 17, reports the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao.

A spokesman for the Russian Border Guards Service said the Dzerzhinsky was forced to fire on the vessels after they refused to desist from fishing in Russian waters. After a three-hour chase, the Russian ship opened fire on the two vessels from eastern China's Shandong province.

The two boats, with a combined crew of 36, were eventually captured by the Russian coast guard for crossing the maritime border illegally. A 22.5 ton squid was found aboard one of the boats. Further investigation will be held at Nakhodka on the Trudny peninsula.

The Chinese consulate at Khabarovsk denied rumors that a Chinese crew member fell overboard during the confrontation.

This is not the first time a violent confrontation has occurred between a Russian patrol and Chinese vessels. A Chinese boat was sunk by a Russian vessel in the winter of 2009, leading to the death of eight of the Chinese crew of 16.

Zhou Yongsheng from the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing said Russian frontier units are generally more aggressive when dealing with suspected intruders but the incident is unlikely to harm the strategic cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.

With China's maritime disputes with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam recently making headlines on a daily basis, it comes as something of a surprise that the first shots fired against a Chinese vessel should come from a Russian boat. Yet while Russia and China share common cause over international issues such as Iran and Syria, confrontation between the two major powers in the Asia-Pacific region may in time prove inevitable. Russia has exported advanced weapons to Vietnam and India, two of China's regional competitors, while the Russian navy's Pacific fleet also sent three ships to take part in the recent RIMPAC 2012 naval exercises held by the United States off Hawaii. These moves have conveyed to Beijing that Moscow is also a potential threat as well as a partner.