BUENOS AIRES, March 15 (Reuters) – Argentina’s coast guard has sunk a Chinese trawler that was fishing illegally inside its territorial waters, the coast guard stated on Tuesday, marking a primary check for relations between President Mauricio Macri and Beijing.

A coast guard vessel pursued the fishing vessel Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 towards worldwide waters in a high-seas chase on Monday, firing warning pictures throughout the Chinese boat’s bow because it tried to boost the crew by radio.

“On several occasions, the offending ship performed maneuvers designed to force a collision with the coast guard, putting at risk not only its own crew but coast guard personnel, who were then ordered to shoot parts of the vessel,” the coast guard stated in an announcement.

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It was not clear if the vessel sank on Monday or Tuesday. The crew deserted ship when the vessel started to go down.

Four crewmen had been rescued by the coast guard whereas others had been picked up by one other Chinese vessel shadowing the pursuit.

China’s Foreign Ministry stated in an announcement the Chinese authorities had lodged a protest over the incident and had been demanding a proof.

“The Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassy in Argentina have already lodged emergency representations with the Argentinian side and expressed serious concern about the incident, demanding Argentina launch an immediate probe and report on the details to China,” it stated.

China can be asking Argentina to make sure the protection and authorized rights of Chinese fishermen and take steps to make sure such incidents don’t occur once more, the assertion stated.

Macri’s center-right authorities, which took workplace in December, will seemingly be eager to keep away from a diplomatic ruckus with the Asian powerhouse which has gained a powerful foothold in South America, historically the United States’ again yard.

Relations between Argentina and China tightened below former leftist chief Cristina Fernandez. Macri promised throughout final 12 months’s presidential race to evaluation all new contracts with China however has proven no signal of doing so. Among these offers had been an settlement to finance and construct two nuclear energy vegetation in Argentina in a deal price as much as $15 billion.

A spokesman for Argentina’s international ministry stated the judiciary was investigating the incident.

Coast guards utilizing radar picked up the trawler fishing off the coast of Puerto Madryn, Chubut province, a zone identified for squid.

Shots had been fired into the hull of the Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 after it ignored repeated warning hearth and radio calls to permit the Argentine coast guard to board.

China has the world’s largest distant water fishing fleet, with greater than 2,000 vessels, the not-for-profit group Stop Illegal Fishing stated final 12 months. (Reporting by Juliana Castilla and Richard Lough; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Grant McCool, Matthew Lewis and Paul Tait)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.