It follows similar incidents in March in two blocks involving Russian firms off Vietnam, which has licensed operations of more than 150 blocks. The offsets are usually a whole number of hours, but a few zones are offset by an additional 30 or 45 minutes, such as in India, South Australia and Nepal. Surveys in a country's EEZ's without prior notification have in previous instances been considered hostile or provocative. All time zones are defined as offsets from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), ranging from UTC12:00 to UTC+14:00. The Chinese research vessel moved at full speed before entering Vietnam's EEZ but slowed to 4-5 knots, suggesting the ship was conducting a survey there, said SCSCI's Van Pham. On Wednesday, the Chinese vessels were about 10 nautical miles (18 km) from the Japanese operating rig and about 20 miles from the Russia-Vietnam rig, according to South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI), an independent non-profit. Vietnam's foreign ministry and the other companies involved did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It made similar remarks on Tuesday after Chinese boats approached an area where the navies of India and Southeast Asian countries held exercises. "Chinese fishing and scientific research vessels carry out normal production and work activities in maritime areas under China's jurisdiction," it said. "It seems they are sending a message about China's jurisdiction over Vietnam's oil and gas operations," Powell said, adding at least three Vietnamese fisheries surveillance vessels had moved close to the Chinese ships.Ĭhina's foreign ministry said those activities were "normal".
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