Daily Lesson from Life 21 February 2009

"China 'shocked' by ship sinking incident

It urges Russia to give a responsible explanation as soon as possible. -Sat, Feb 21, 2009 China Daily/Asia News Network

China "is shocked" by the sinking of a Chinese cargo ship by the Russian navy off the Vladivostok port and has urged Russia to give a responsible explanation as soon as possible, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.


Deputy Foreign Minister Li Hui on Thursday summoned the Russian ambassador in Beijing and urged Russian authorities to complete their investigation into the incident and try their best to search for the seven Chinese crew members still missing.

"The Chinese side cannot accept and expresses its strong dissatisfaction to the Russian side over its bombardment of the cargo ship, the lack of a prompt rescue of the downed sailors and the fact that a long time has passed with no results from the investigation," Li said, according to the statement posted on the ministry's website on Friday. "China was shocked by the incident," he said.

Russia stopped its search-and-rescue operations at about 7:30 pm on Thursday, with nothing found, Global Times quoted Russia News as saying on Friday.


The Sierra Leone-flagged vessel, named "New Star", sank off the waters near Russia's far-eastern port of Vladivostok on Sunday after it was fired on by the Russian military. Three Chinese sailors were rescued. An official with the Chinese consulate in Khabarovsk told China Daily the survivors are in good condition and have contacted their families.

The cargo ship was held at the Russian port of Nakhodka earlier this month because of suspected smuggling. But it left without permission on Feb 12 to avoid punishment from importing "poor-quality" rice, Russian media quoted local prosecutors as saying. Russian officials said border guards had to open fire on the Chinese ship because it refused all efforts the Russian side tried to get it to stop.

Russia asked the Hong Kong-based shipping company for $330,000 as compensation for the import, the ship's operator said on Thursday. The ship's owner, a Zhejiang province-based shipping company, confirmed on Thursday that the missing Chinese sailors come from Shandong and Heilongjiang provinces.

Nanfang Daily quoted Xu Guangyu, secretary of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, as saying on Friday that he believes the accident will not affect relations between the two countries in the long term."

This is so Russian as some observers may say! The use of force on civilians is NOT uncommon by the Russian authorities or the people at the ground and operational level! e.g. the downing of a South Korea passenger plane many years back still got people talking about it why did it shot down the plane though no formal and full report were ever given due to 'military secrecy'?

Anyway, the lessons for me are:

1. use of force against civilians in commercial dispute should NEVER had happened! This CAN be big deal if not handled properly between 2 of the world big powers!;

2. when such unfortunate instance happened, the authorities should endeavour to provide full and in-depth investigation and keep clear communication with the parties involved to avoid any misunderstanding each step of the way. Nothing should be left to chance and timely communication is key! Provision of facts will reduce suspicion of cover up or what not!;

3. at the operational level, the people in charge may like to understand using force against civilians that may result in deaths is not the best way to go. The truth need to be revealed so that all others who may be in such a situation knows what can and cannot be done that may lead to death!

My point No. 1 is of course, biased. It is skewed as the Russians had used force on civilians before. I can make assumption here. However, if I am the official in charge of this, I would not make any assumptions. I would endeavour to collect as much facts and information from both sides in order to properly understand the issues, the causes for such a disastrous outcome, and to find ways to avoid this from repeating ever again! At the same time, I would share the conclusion and things to avoid to other folks who may be interested though they may be from other countries!