Chinese sailors in the South China Sea are now acting like pirates of old. Last month they boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat, beat up the crew and stole their catch and their equipment before sailing off. At least they didn't make the Vietnamese crew walk the plank. 

But Chinese pirates have something that Bluebeard never had, a sizable PR team. China's state media and foreign ministry claimed the whole thing was handled professionally and with restraint.

Photos and information exclusively obtained by the Global Times on Saturday show that Chinese authorities’ interception, boarding, inspection and expulsion of a Vietnamese boat which illegally entered waters near China’s Xisha Islands on September 29 were conducted with restraint and in full accordance with the law...

Chinese Foreign Ministry was quoted by Reuters on Tuesday as saying that “Vietnamese fishing boats” illegally fished in the relevant waters of China’s Xisha Islands on September 29 without the permission of the Chinese government and that relevant Chinese authorities took measures to stop them. 

The on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found, the ministry stressed.

That's a nice fantasy world you got there. But it has very little in common with reality. Here's what actually happened on Sep. 29 according to the crew of the Vietnamese fishing boat.

,,,around 9 a.m., approximately 40 people from the Chinese vessels boarded Bien's ship. The fishermen, unarmed, were assaulted.

Huynh Tien Cong, 47, was one of the first to be beaten, suffering broken arm and leg bones from relentless blows delivered by metal sticks.

"They rushed in and brutally beat me on my arms and legs with metal stick around one meter long. I could do nothing but endure the blows," Cong recalled.

Vo Van Thi, 44, tried to shield Cong but was also beaten, sustaining bruises on his thighs and back.

The ship's captain, Nguyen Thanh Bien, was beaten unconscious. For a time, the Chinese wouldn't allow any of his crew to check on his condition or give him CPR. Instead they covered everyone's heads with sheets. Eventually, they allowed some of the crew to bring Bien into a back room to care for him. And then they stole everything onboard the vessel, not just several tons of fish but also more than $12,000 worth of equipment.

"They left us nothing but a tracker so we could return to shore," Thuong said.

After four hours they were ordered to return home. China admitted to taking their catch but didn't say anything about their stolen equipment. Vietnam's foreign ministry criticized China's "brutal behavior."

"Vietnam is extremely concerned, indignant and resolutely opposes the brutal behaviour of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Paracel archipelago of Vietnam," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening...

Vietnam protested the incident in discussions with the China's Hanoi embassy. The ministry demanded "China to fully respect Vietnam's sovereignty over the Paracel archipelago, promptly investigate and notify Vietnam on the results, and do not to repeat similar actions."

China can do this to the Vietnamese fishermen because it knows there won't be any US media aboard as their might be if these were ships from the Philippines. Whatever happens, China can just lie about it later which is exactly what they have done.