Hanoi demands Beijing return detained Vietnamese fishermen, ramps up island-building

FILE - Vietnamese fishermen fix nets on their boat as while docked at Tho Quang port, Danang, Vietnam, after a fishing trip in the South China Sea, March 27, 2016. FILE - Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy patrol at Woody Island, in the Paracel Archipelago, which is known in China as the Xisha Islands, Jan. 29, 2016. FILE - An aerial view of Southwest Cay, also known as Pugad Island, controlled by Vietnam and part of the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea, April 21, 2017.

Vietnam is taking a more outspoken and transparent approach in response to China’s recent detention of Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, analysts tell VOA.