Chinese fishermen on front line of marine dispute

TANMEN - The tropical waters of the South China Sea are among the most contested on Earth, but Chinese fishermen who sail in them shrug off the dangers of navigating between multiple competing claimants.

"It's a little risky... but in Chinese regions we're not afraid, we're in sea which belongs to us, how could we be arrested?" asked Mr Liang Min, 29, as he stood in his ship's dank engine room, wearing yellow plastic shoes.

It is a sentiment that would be disputed in several Asian capitals, and as tensions mount in the area Liang risks finding himself embroiled in an international incident on one of his regular visits.

Beijing says its "historical waters" include a vast swathe of the South China Sea, detailed on a map published in the 1940s.