World News for Students of English

11-06-2014 15:00

Tensions are rising in the South China Sea after a Chinese vessel reportedly hit a Vietnamese fishing boat, causing it to sink.

Vietnamese Television, who recently broadcast this footage, said it was filmed near a controversial oil rig last month.

The video shows a larger vessel closely following a smaller fishing boat. Then in another shot, the boat begins to sink.

Both countries blame each other for the incident near the disputed Paracel Islands. Vietnamese media says that Chinese vessels rammed the boat and used water cannons on their coast guards, while Chinese state media argued that the boat collided with its vessel after harassing a Chinese fishing boat.

Whatever the reason, the sinking is likely to escalate tensions between the two countries which are locked in dispute about the South China sea territory.

Difficult words: tension (bad feeling when two countries do not trust each other), vessel (large boat), disputed (argued about), ram (to run into something very hard), harass (attack), escalate (to get worse and worse).

Source: www.itn.co.uk