The leftist government of Ecuador, a close ally of China, has lodged a stern protest against Beijing this week after seizing an illegal fishing vessel carrying thousands of endangered sharks. China’s presence in the waters of Latin America has grown as the lucrative illegal fish market has grown.
“Any ship or vessel that illegally fishes in our territorial seas will be immediately detained,” President Lenin Moreno said on Monday. “We are strengthening, in a decisive and urgent way, the operational capacity of our fleet so that we can combat these threats. We will not allow them to violate our maritime sovereignty!” -- More...
