China yesterday urged the US to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese crew on board a ship that caused a massive oil spill in the San Francisco Bay.
Cosco Busan is the name of a ship owned by Hong Kong-based Regal Stone but leased to South Korean shipping liner Hanjin Shipping. It hit a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in dense fog on November 7, spilling about 58,000 gallons of oil into the sea.
The ship had just left the Port of Oakland and was proceeding to sea when it hit the bridge. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao spoke at a regular press briefing yesterday. He said, "According to our knowledge, the owner of the ship employs several Chinese nationals, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry and our General Consulate in San Francisco have asked the American side to protect their safety and legitimate rights and interests."
Earlier media reports mistakenly identified the ship as one owned by China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, or COSCO, China's largest shipping operator.
COSCO did respond to the reports, saying: "COSCO Container Line or any other COSCO subsidiary companies is not the ship's owner, manager, operator or bareboat charter of Cosco Busan.”
Liu said "We hope the matter is resolved soon in an appropriate manner and the impact of the oil spill on the environment minimized."
Regal Stone spokesman Jim Lawrence said: the Chinese crewmembers have stayed on board the ship at the Port of Oakland because they don't have proper papers to enter the US,.
"The crew is not being detained; the ship has been detained," Lawrence told the media in San Francisco.
A Ministry of Communications official also commented. He said "The situation is understandable, given that the act of temporarily holding crewmembers and ships pending investigation into the cause of a collision is an internationally accepted practice."
He continued, "At this point, it's not clear whether the collision was the fault of crewmembers or the captain of the ship"
Questions:
1.What is the name of the ship involved?
2.To whom Hong Kong-based Regal Stone leased the ship?
3.How many gallons of oil were spilled?
Answers:
1.Cosco Busan.
2.South Korean shipping liner Hanjin Shipping.
3.58,000.
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Jonathan Stewart is a media and journalism expert from the United States with four years of experience as a writer and instructor. He accepted a foreign expert position with chinadaily.com.cn in June 2007 following the completion of his Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
