China wants fishermen freed

China wants fishermen freed

MANILA (DPA): China has demanded the Philippines free 29 Chinese fishermen arrested aboard two boats loaded with rare corals and dynamite near a disputed South China Sea shoal, an embassy official said yesterday.

The fishermen and their boats must be freed immediately because they did not violate any Philippine law while in the waters around Scarborough Shoal, an area which China considers as its territory, the official said.

"They were in our territorial area and have a right to fish there," the consul said.

The fishermen were caught March 10 after a brief chase near Scarborough, some 200 kilometers off the northwestern Philippine province of Zambales. They were charged Monday with illegal possession of explosives and gathering of endangered coral.