Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang (Photo source: fmprc.gov.cn)

A Chinese vessel has rescued the five-member crew of a Vietnamese fishing boat that sank in the South China Sea, China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, refuting media reports which claimed a Chinese vessel rammed and sank the boat. 

A report by Vietnamese newspaper VNExpress, citing Vietnam's search and rescue authorities, said Chinese vessel 44101 rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near Xisha Islands Wednesday morning. 

The report said that the crew was eventually rescued by another Vietnamese fishing boat at around noon. 

Lu Kang, a spokesperson from Chinese Foreign Ministry told the Global Times on Thursday that a Chinese public service vessel immediately contacted the Chinese Marine Search and Rescue Center after receiving a distress signal from a Vietnamese fishing boat Wednesday morning. 

When the Chinese vessel approached the Vietnamese fishing boat, it had already sunk and the Chinese rescuers saved the crew in the afternoon, Lu said. 

Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the Hainan-based National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times that it is not surprising that Vietnamese media covered the truth. 

Xisha Islands is the territory of China and under the administration of China but Vietnam frequently sends fishing boats around the waters and many are serving as spies, Chen said. 

China rescues fishing boats from Vietnam out of goodwill, Chen noted. 

When two Chinese vessels saved a fishing boat from Vietnam around Yongxing Island in the South China Sea on July 9, 2016, Vietnam also mistakenly claimed Chinese vessels sank their boat, according to China's foreign ministry.