ILLUSTRATION. Chinese ship illustration. BETWEEN PHOTOS / M Risyal Hidayat / pd.
Reporter: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie | Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie
KONTAN.CO.ID – ECUADOR. The situation on the Pacific coast of South America is heating up. Launch Los Angeles TimesThis condition was triggered by the action of a giant Chinese fishing fleet of about 300 ships moving from the edge of the Galapagos marine reserve to waters off Peru.
On Tuesday afternoon, in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump denounced China on a wide range of issues, from the coronavirus to human rights. He also highlighted China’s fishing action and maritime behavior, saying that the country dumps millions and millions of tonnes of plastic and trash into the oceans, overfishing in other countries’ waters and destroying coral reefs.
Shortly after, the US Embassy in Peru issued a tweet saying the Chinese mega-flotilla was off its coast. The US embassy in Peru has accused the flotilla of changing the ship’s name and deactivating GPS tracking to limit surveillance of fleet activity.
“Overfishing can cause enormous ecological and economic damage,” the tweet said. Peru cannot afford such losses.
Also Read: Philippines: We ask for US assistance if China attacks our naval vessels in the South China Sea
That prompted a swift response by the Chinese Embassy in Peru, which showed that the US lied about the fleet’s environmental and maritime integrity.
“We hope the Peruvian people are not deceived by false information,” read a statement written in Spanish as reported LA Times.
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Peru and Ecuador both have large fishing fleets and rely heavily on seafood. According to the World Bank, in 2018, the two countries caught 4.5 million metric tons of fish, about the same as the United States, but only about a quarter of what China harvested from the sea.
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Reporter: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie
Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie
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