A group of 40 Chinese ships circle a Vietnamese fishing vessel in the South China Sea, with one of the ships ramming the grossly outnumbered fishers until their boat sunk.  All 10 people on board the Vietnamese vessel were rescued, but it ratchets up tensions in the two nations’ maritime dispute.

This happened just 17 nautical miles from the spot where China moved its Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil-drilling rig, waters claimed by Vietnam and well south of China’s internationally recognized Exclusive Economic Zone.  Vietnamese legislators are preparing to sue China in an international court over the rig and the constant attacks on Vietnamese ships.

China has not commented.  But on Monday, the state-run Xinhua news agency published an English language commentary from a law professor stating, “Hanoi should know that such drilling in the said area is China's sovereign right endowed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”