Khanh News

A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels were in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, close to gas blocks operated by Russian firms in the South China Sea, a day after Vietnam urged the ships to leave.The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 began operating in Vietnam's EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion since 2019, according to Ray Powell, who leads Stanford University's Project Myoushu on the South China Sea.He said China's conduct and Vietnam's reaction were a "worrying escalation."China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, including areas that are within Vietnam's EEZ. The 2019 standoff lasted for more than three months and largely targeted a block then operated by Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM.

A Chinese research vessel flanked by coast guard and nearly a dozen boats on Wednesday entered a gas block operated by Russian and Vietnamese state firms, two monitoring groups said, another potential flashpoint in the South China Sea.It follows a pattern of assertive moves of late by Beijing in its neighbors' exclusive economic zones (EEZ), as it presses its claim to sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, testing the United States and its allies at a time of heightened regional tension.Strong relations between Russia and China are a major factor supporting global stability…

A Vietnamese oil service vessel rescued 154 people from a sinking boat in the Andaman Sea and has transferred them to Myanmar's navy, state media reported, a group that was confirmed by activists as minority Rohingya Muslims. The vessel, Hai Duong 29, was en route from Singapore to Myanmar when it spotted the boat in distress 285 miles (458.7 km) south of the Myanmar coast on Wednesday, VTCNews said in a report aired late on Thursday.The Rohingya are a minority that has for years been persecuted in Myanmar and many risk their lives attempting to reach predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Indonesia on rickety boats. Their exodus from Myanmar and from the squalor of refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh…

At least 12 sailors on a Chinese-flagged cargo ship have died of suspected food poisoning off Vietnam's southern coast, a government official said on Friday.After receiving distress calls from the ship's captain, authorities in the island district of Con Dao deployed helicopters to bring the victims and nine other sailors to a hospital onshore, according to Huynh Trung Son, a local government official."The survivors are in critical condition and our medical staff are trying to save them," Son said via telephone."We haven't been able to identify the nationality of the sailors, but they are likely Chinese," he added.The Wu Zhou 8 ship was en route from Thailand to China, he said, adding that it was not immediately clear what the ship was transporting.The ship was built in 2013 with a carryin

At least 13 tourists were found dead and four remained missing after a boat capsized off Vietnam's central coast of Hoi An on Saturday, a city official said."We are searching for the missing," Nguyen Sinh, party chief of Cua Dai Ward in Hoi An City told Reuters.The accident happened when the boat was carrying 36 tourists and three sailors from Cu Lao Cham Island to Hoi An, the government said in a statement.Vietnam is seeing an increase in tourism activities after the country recently lifted most of its coronavirus curbs.

At least 15 sailors were missing on Thursday after a Panama-flagged cargo ship capsized in rough seas off Vietnam, Vietnamese state media said.The incident happened off the central province of Binh Thuan when the Xin Hong with 11 Chinese and four Vietnamese sailors onboard was transporting 7,800 tonnes of clay from Malaysia to Hong Kong, Nhan Dan newspaper reported.Sailors had contacted Vietnam for help earlier on Thursday when the ship began to list in rough seas, the report said.Vietnam has sent a rescue team, including a coast guard vessel, to search for the missing sailors, the report said, adding that the team had found an inflatable life raft near the sinking ship with no one inside.(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Malaysia said on Monday that a Vietnamese fisherman died from gunshot wounds after a confrontation broke out when the country’s coast guard sought to inspect two boats they believed were illegally fishing.In a statement, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said 19 Vietnamese fishermen had been on board the boats, accusing them of pelting the enforcement ship with hard objects, as well as flammable items, before eventually ramming it.The statement said that incident took place in waters off Kelantan state and that coast guard officers onboard had responded by firing in self-defense, wound

A Chinese ship embroiled in a standoff with Vietnamese vessels last year has returned to waters near Vietnam as the United States accused China of pushing its presence in the South China Sea while other claimants are pre-occupied with the coronavirus.Vietnamese vessels last year spent months shadowing the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 8 survey vessel in resource-rich waters that are a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges China's sweeping maritime claims.On Tuesday, the ship, which is used for offshore seismic surveys, appeared again 158 km (98 miles) off Vietnam's coast, within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), flanked by at least one China Coast Guard vessel…

Vietnam has lodged an official protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard, was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on Saturday.All the fishermen were picked up by the Chinese vessel alive and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearb

Health authorities in the southern Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh want to stop a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship with Italians on board from docking at the economic hub on Friday over coronavirus concerns, state media reported.The Health Department on Thursday advised the People's Committee of the city not to allow passengers on the cruise liner, Silver Spirit, to disembark, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.The department said the move is aimed at "limiting the intrusion of disease into the city"…

A Chinese oil survey vessel that has been embroiled in a tense standoff with Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea left Vietnamese-controlled waters on Thursday after more than three months, marine data showed.The Chinese vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was speeding away from Vietnam's exclusive economic zone towards China on Thursday under the escort of at least two Chinese ships, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessels.China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea but neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.Tension between Hanoi and Beijing…

A Chinese survey vessel on Saturday extended its activities to an area closer to Vietnam's coastline, ship tracking data showed, after the United States and Australia expressed concern about China's actions in the disputed waterways.The Haiyang Dizhi 8 vessel first entered Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) early last month where it began a weeks-long seismic survey, triggering a tense standoff between military and coastguard vessels from Vietnam and China.The Chinese vessel…

A Chinese survey ship returned to Vietnam's exclusive economic zone off its coast on Tuesday, ship tracking data showed, less than a week after it left the area where vessels from the two countries were locked in a month-long standoff.The Haiyang Dizhi 8 first entered the zone under Chinese coast guard escort in July and appeared to conduct a seismic survey of waters that are a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges China's maritime claims.The survey ship, which according to Vietnam left the area on Aug. 7, was now headed back to the zone under escort from at least two Chinese Coast Guard vessels, according to data from Marine Traffic…

A Vietnamese fishermen's group has called on the government to take stronger measures for the removal of a Chinese oil survey vessel that Vietnam accuses of violating its sovereignty in the South China Sea.Vietnamese and Chinese ships have been in a weeks-old standoff near an offshore oil block, the latest confrontation in waters that are a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges China's sweeping maritime claims.The busy waterway will be high on the agenda this week as countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet in Bangkok with foreign ministers from China, the United States and other powers.Vietnam…

Vietnam has ordered vessels back to port and prepared evacuation plans in flood-prone northern provinces as tropical storm "Son Tinh" was expected to make landfall later on Wednesday.Son Tinh, which soaked parts of the Philippines on Tuesday, had reached sustained wind speeds of up to 90 km (56 miles) per hour, the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said in a statement on Wednesday.The storm was expected to dump up to 350 mm (13.8 inches) of heavy rains on Vietnam's northern provinces and could trigger floods and landslides…

Vietnamese and Chinese ships have been embroiled in a weeks-long standoff near an offshore oil block in disputed waters of the South China Sea, which fall within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, two Washington-based think-tanks said on Wednesday.China's U-shaped "nine-dash line" marks a vast expanse of the South China Sea that it claims, including large swathes of Vietnam's continental shelf where it has awarded oil concessions.The Haiyang Dizhi 8, a ship operated by the China Geological Survey…

Iran is running short of options to replace its ageing fleet of tankers and keep oil exports flowing because renewed U.S. sanctions are making potential sellers and flag registries wary of doing business with Tehran, Western and Iranian sources said.Since U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in November, exploratory talks with South Korea for up to 10 new supertankers have stalled and Panama has also removed at least 21 Iranian tankers from its registry forcing Tehran to put the vessels under its own flag…

Vietnam on Friday accused a Chinese oil survey vessel and its escorts of violating its sovereignty and demanded that China remove the ships from Vietnamese waters.Vietnam and China have for years long been embroiled in a dispute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of waters in the South China Sea.On Wednesday, two U.S.-based think tanks reported that Chinese and Vietnamese vessels had engaged in a standoff lasting several weeks near an oil block in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone.

Vietnam's state oil firm PetroVietnam said on Friday that tension in the South China Sea will continue to weigh on its offshore operations this year.The company, formally known as Vietnam Oil and Gas Group targets to produce 12.37 million metric tonnes of crude oil this year, down 11.45 percent from last year's output, it said in a statement.Vietnam and China have been embroiled in maritime disputes in parts of the busy waterway, where China claims 90 percent of the potentially energy-rich maritime territory, which Vietnam calls the East Sea."The complicated developments in the East Sea have h

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), signed today in Moscow a number of documents to strengthen cooperation between the companies. The signing ceremony was attended by Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). the Addendum to extend the Cooperation Agreement on personnel training. According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the development of new oil and gas projects, the parties plan to examine further opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and development.

The U.S. Navy began the 8th Annual Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) with the Vietnam People's Navy, July 5, with the arrival of USS Coronado (LCS 4) and USNS Salvor (T-ARS-52) at Cam Ranh International Port. This five-day collaboration will focus on events and skills exchanges in diving and salvage and undersea medicine. A brief at-sea phase will allow ships from both navies to practice the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), ship handling, and medical evacuations. Subject matter expert exchanges ashore will focus on shipboard damage control, shipboard medicine, and law. NEA will also feature formal office calls, band concerts, community relations events, and team sports.

The state-run China Daily says that India's plans to conduct oil exploration off Vietnam coast in the South China Sea is "illegal and is an "unwise move" that may "sabotage" positive momentum in ties. "India's intention to once again explore for oil in the disputed waters of the South China Sea is an unwise move, as it will further complicate the maritime disputes and do a disservice to maintaining the positive momentum that has been achieved in China-India ties," the China Daily said in an editorial. Titled 'India should rethink its oil exploration plans', the editorial said according to reports India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to restart exploration activities in the waters off Vietnam's coastline which are "also claimed by China".

Vietnam's state oil firm PetroVietnam has ordered Spanish energy firm Repsol to suspend its "Red Emperor" project off the country's southeastern coast following pressure from China, the BBC reported on Friday. It would be the second time in less than a year that Vietnam has had to cancel a major oil development in the South China Sea under pressure from China. The move comes as Repsol was making final preparations for commercial drilling. A rig, the Ensco 8504, was scheduled to depart from Singapore for the drill site on Thursday, the report said, citing an unnamed energy industry source. The cancellation could cost Repsol and its partners $200 million in sunk investment, according to the BBC. Repsol and PetroVietnam executives could not immediately be reached for comment.