Chinese surveillance vessels drive out two Vietnamese ships

SANSHA, Hainan, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Two Vietnam-registered fishing ships were driven out of China's territorial waters by a China Marine Surveillance (CMS) fleet on Wednesday.

The Vietnamese vessels, registered as QNg96417TS and QNg96382TS, were spotted around 7 a.m. in the South China Sea around the Xisha Islands. They were suspected of illegal fishing within China's territorial waters, according to the Xinhua reporter on board the CMS ship.

They were driven out of the waters at about 10 a.m. by two CMS ships -- the Haijian 262 and the Haijian 263.

The CMS fleet, composed of three ships, with the other being the Haijian 83, and a Haijian B-7103 helicopter. The fleet is conducting regular patrols of the Xisha Islands, which are now administered by Sansha City, which was set up in July last year.