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.