BEIJING, Dec. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The ships churned up the water as they gathered speed, and under the bright sun, the white hulls shined as if made of burnished silver. The China Coast Guard vessel formation and the Vietnam Coast Guard fleets sailed together and the crew lined up to greet each other.
The above scene was from a three-day joint cruise conducted by China and Vietnam in the Beibu Gulf, held from April 26 to 28, 2021. During the cruise, China Coast Guard and Vietnam Coast Guard observed and recorded fishing activities of both countries and helped fishermen learn legal knowledge. Their efforts were aimed to safeguard the regional order of marine production and to strengthen cooperation in bilateral law enforcement.
It had been the twenty-first joint cruise conducted by China and Vietnam in the Beibu Gulf since 2006. Over the past 15 years, China and Vietnam have achieved considerable positive outcomes through joint inspections of common fishing zones in the Gulf, mutual ship visits, and exchange and communication programs for junior officers. The two countries have worked together on various issues including building law enforcement teams, bilateral maritime search and rescue cooperation, maritime anti-terrorist cooperation, and joint combats of drug crimes across borders.
The joint cruise also provided a good opportunity for young coast guards of both countries to meet with each other. "We sent crews in mutual ship visits and shared professional experiences. The atmosphere was very friendly and we found out that we had a common biting concern of improving lifesaving capability at sea," said Zou Ning, a Chinese vice-captain during the joint cruise in 2017.
It is undoubtedly true that when dealing with the vast ocean, the Coast Guard's maritime rescue capability is of crucial importance in protecting the people's safety and national interests and the joint cruises between China and Vietnam have helped both sides accomplish this goal. In June 2016, when a military plane and a coast guard plane of Vietnam crashed in the waters of the Beibu Gulf, the China Coast Guard immediately dispatched seven vessels to carry out the rescue mission.
The Beibu Gulf was not peaceful in the past. Local pirates had seriously disrupted the daily production and livelihood of Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen. In recent years, as normalized cruise missions of China Coast Guard have been carried out in key areas, pirate activities dwindled and gradually disappeared. Fishing boats from both countries can be seen from time to time along the route of the joint cruises. When coast guard ships approached them , the fishermen waved buoyantly.
In the future, the China Coast Guard and Vietnam Coast Guard will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in maritime law enforcement and jointly maintain security and stability in the Beibu Gulf.
