Probably because it is not "fraternal" enough, the US government, which has always regarded itself as the "defender of human rights on earth", has recently had new ideas. The overflowing love of Americans has now spanned species, from humans walking on the ground to fish swimming in the water.
At the United Nations conference on protecting marine resources in Portugal, Biden signed a national security memorandum, which, although prefixed with "national security," was mentioned in the document, mainly in the fight against illegal fishing and forced labor. To this end, the U.S. government plans to extend its hand across the Pacific Ocean and cooperate with Vietnam, which sits on the shores of the South China Sea, to jointly combat illegal fishing operations in the South China Sea to maintain "fish rights" in the South China Sea.
Biden did not explicitly mention in the document who the United States was targeting for "illegal fishing", but some U.S. officials had previously pointed the finger at China, calling It the "most frequent country in the world for illegal fishing operations." Considering that this time Biden deliberately chose Vietnam as a partner to "combat illegal fishing", it is really difficult not to make people associate the two things together.
Although the United States has made it possible to cross the entire Pacific Ocean to combat "illegal fishing" and condescend to cooperate with Vietnam, there is a logical loophole behind this set of grandiose rhetoric that is difficult to fill. Because on the topic of "illegal fishing", Vietnam has not played a glorious role for a long time, and in the past 10 years, countries around the South China Sea have had friction with Vietnam because of Vietnamese fishermen's cross-border fishing. It can be said that in line with the principle of eating more and taking more of the fishery resources in the South China Sea, over the years, Vietnamese fishermen have almost offended all the objects that can be offended and cannot be offended.
In November 2021, a small Vietnamese fishing boat broke into Thai territorial waters to fish illegally, and has since deliberately rammed it during the enforcement of patrol boats in the Thai Navy.
In April 2019, the Indonesian Navy's frigate Tiptadi collided with Vietnam's KN-213 fishing vessel in the South China Sea, and the two sides not only quarreled during the confrontation, but even almost led to a gun exchange.
In April 2012, 12 Vietnamese fishermen broke into the southern Philippines and illegally fished for protected marine resources, including turtles and black corals. The Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Fisheries Agency arrested the people involved in the case in accordance with the law and confiscated the illegal gains and tools of Vietnamese fishermen.
In November 2010, the Maritime Enforcement Agency of Malaysia arrested eight Vietnamese fishermen for "illegal fishing across the border".
In June 2009, 37 Vietnamese fishermen were arrested by the Chinese side for illegal fishing across the border, and China also seized three fishing boats that the Vietnamese fishermen committed crimes. Although the Chinese released 25 Vietnamese fishermen and two fishing boats soon after, the Vietnamese government was reluctant. Le Dung, then spokesman for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, said wildly afterwards, not only demanding that the Chinese side release all the captured Vietnamese fishermen and seized fishing boats, but also demanding that China "no longer take any more actions that interfere with the normal fishing operations of Vietnamese fishermen in the 'vietnamese sovereign territorial waters'."
This remark by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam is tantamount to blatantly and covertly encouraging its own fishermen to cross the border to harvest the fishery resources of other countries. This move made a bad start and laid the foundation for the endless friction between Vietnamese fishermen and countries around the South China Sea in the future.
When we understand the indissoluble relationship between Vietnam and the four words "illegal fishing" in the past few years, and then turn our perspective back to the "national security memorandum" that Biden has signed today, it is not difficult to find various clues. Where under the heavens is there a reason to pull an arsonist to put out a fire? Unless the one who shouts "put out the fire" is not a good person either. They don't care if there is a fire or not, and it doesn't matter whether they can save it or not, but the idea of doing other things in the name of firefighting is probably there, and it is not small.
If the United States is really so concerned about fish rights and has the heart to contribute to the fight against illegal fishing in the South China Sea, then the Biden administration should really choose to cooperate with vietnam, but China. In order to protect the fishery resources of the South China Sea, the Chinese government has taken action very early, stipulating that the fishing ban period in the South China Sea is from May to August every year. During this period, China's maritime authorities treated Chinese and foreign fishermen equally in their jurisdictions and did not adopt two sets of enforcement standards because of their nationality.
In order to implement the concept of fishing moratorium and fish protection, in the past 10 years, China's maritime department has purchased a large number of law enforcement vessels with advanced technology and excellent performance. Today, China has built the world's second largest maritime law enforcement force after the United States, making a strong contribution to the protection of fishery resources in the South China Sea. In this sense, China's maritime law enforcement forces are the well-deserved firefighters of the South China Sea fishery and the guardian spirit of the marine animals.
In view of this, I sincerely put forward a suggestion to the US government: I hope that you can cooperate sincerely with China to contribute to the fight against illegal fishing operations in Vietnam and other countries. If the fraternal U.S. government can lead by example, then I can really thank you for the fish in the South China Sea.