Vietnam, China begin joint sea patrol: Colonel Luong Cao Khai, Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Coast Guard Region 1 led the Vietnamese fleet (Photo: https://www.qdnd.vn/)

This was also the fifth of its kind after the Vietnam-China agreement on fishery cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin expired on June 30, 2020.

Colonel Luong Cao Khai, Vice Commander and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam Coast Guard Region 1 led the Vietnamese fleet. Meanwhile, the Chinese side was led by Huang Min, Director of the fourth bureau’s law enforcement department under the CCG.

The joint patrol took place over 13 points with 255.5 nautical miles, with a range of activities like phone talks, inspections and supervisions over fishing boats operating in the waters adjacent to the demarcation, joint exercises in search and rescue at sea, and raising the awareness of both sides’ fishermen about law observance.

Vietnam, China begin joint sea patrol: A ship of the China Coast Guard.(Photo: https://www.qdnd.vn/)

Notably, on this occasion, the Vietnamese side established inter-sectoral working groups to supervise Vietnamese fishing boats’ observance of legal regulations and the European Commision (EC)’s recommendations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The success of the joint patrol is expected to create an impulse to boost the relations between the two Parties, States and peoples, and the coast guards in particular.