Vietnam wants fishermen freed

Vietnam wants fishermen freed

HANOI (AFP): Vietnam is set to use annual talks with its East
Asian neighbors here this week to press for the release of around
200 of its fishermen who were detained in the disputed South
China Sea last month, officials said on Sunday.

Authorities in the central coastal province of Quang Ngai
asked the foreign ministry to intervene after the seizure of 17
boats by the Malaysian and Chinese navies in the Spratly and
Paracel islands, provincial officials said.

Vietnam has said a code of conduct for the disputed
archipelagos will be high on the agenda for talks among Southeast
Asian foreign ministers on Monday, which will be joined by
Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan later in the week.

Four ASEAN member states -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines
and Vietnam -- contest China's claim to the Spratlys, but Vietnam
is the only one to lay claim to the Paracel islands to their
north, which have been entirely under Chinese control since 1974.