UPDATE 1-Vietnam protests Beijing's sinking of South China Sea boat

(Adds comments from Chinese coast guard in paragraphs 6-8)
By Khanh Vu
HANOI, April 4 (Reuters) - Vietnam has lodged an official
protest with China following the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing
boat it said had been rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance
vessel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.
The Vietnamese fishing vessel, with eight fishermen onboard,
was fishing near the Paracel Islands on Thursday when it was
rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam's foreign
ministry said in a statement posted on a government website on
Saturday.
All the fishermen were picked up by the Chinese vessel alive
and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels
operating nearby, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said in a
statement posted to its website.
"The Chinese vessel committed an act that violated Vietnam's
sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago and threatened the
lives and damaged the property and legitimate interests of
Vietnamese fishermen," the foreign ministry said in its
statement, referring to the Paracel Islands by its Vietnamese
name.
Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dispute
over the potentially energy-rich stretch of water, called the
East Sea by Vietnam.
The Vietnamese boat illegally entered the area to fish and
refused to leave, the Chinese coast guard said late on Friday.
After making some dangerous maneuvers, the boat collided
with a Chinese patrol vessel and sank, the Chinese coast guard
said in a statement on its social media account.
The Chinese coast guard also said it had made solemn
representations with the Vietnamese side.
The incident marks the second time in less than a year a
Vietnamese fishing vessel has been reportedly sunk by a Chinese
vessel near the China-controlled Paracels. A Chinese oil survey vessel conducted operations in
Vietnamese-controlled waters for more than three months last
year, causing a tense standoff between vessels from the two
countries.