Four US senators have released a joint statement condemning the Chinese Coast Guard’s sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat, deployment of military aircraft in the South China Sea in the midst of the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.

“I condemn in the strongest terms China’s sinking of a Vietnamese vessel in the South China Sea,” said Senator Cory Gardner. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and comes at a time when nations around the world are focused on combating the Covid-19 scourge that spread in part due to the Chinese Communist Party’s cover-up and negligence.”

A Vietnamese fishing boat.

“The reports of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel sinking a Vietnamese fishing vessel and China’s other activities on illegally reclaimed features in the South China Sea are deeply concerning,” said Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

“These are just the latest examples of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) blatant intimidation of its neighbors to assert its excessive maritime claims. The CCP is undermining regional stability at a time when the international community should be coming together to combat the Covid-19 pandemic,” Risch added.

“At a time when the international community should be working together to face a common foe, China’s continued divisive and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea is deplorable. The first duty of any coast guard is to guarantee safety at sea – not to contribute to lawlessness and danger,” said Bob Menendez, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The Chinese coast guard’s culpability in the collision and sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel is unambiguous, and constitutes unsafe and unacceptable maritime behavior, deserving of condemnation,” Menendez added.

The senators also asserted that the US will take further action to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Risch said the United States will work with our allies and partners in the region to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific and promote peaceful activity in the South China Sea.

“All nations in the Indo-Pacific must be able to live free from coercion in a region governed by international law, norms and institutions. I strongly believe that the United States must stand up and support efforts by regional institutions and our allies and partners to ensure freedom of navigation and economic opportunity throughout the entire Indo-Pacific,” said Senator Mendez.

“I urge the Administration to use every policy tool at our disposal, such as those provided by my Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, to push against the CCP’s malign behavior and continue to vigorously re-assert the international rights of freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea,” voiced Gardner.

“The United States will not turn a blind eye to military coercion of Southeast Asian countries. Like the rest of the world, the Indo-Pacific is focused on fighting the coronavirus, but the United States must continue to assist our regional partners and allies in defending their freedom of navigation, the free flow of commerce, and adherence to international agreements in the face of Chinese aggression during this pandemic,” said Ed Markey, chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy.

Before this statement, the US Departments of State and Defense expressed their deep concern over China’s sinking of the Vietnamese fishing vessel on April 2 in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

In a letter dated July 31, the four senators objected to China’s aggression in the South China Sea after Beijing sent a surveying vessel and armed escort ships inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone.