It was unfortunate that a Chinese fisherman was killed on Tuesday during a Korean Coast Guard raid on Chinese boats fishing illegally in South Korean waters in the West Sea.

The fisherman was hit by a rubber bullet fired by a Korean Coast Guard officer, who felt threatened as Chinese fishermen wielded deadly weapons such as hacksaws and knives to stop the Coast Guard from seizing their boats.

The Seoul government allowed Coast Guard commandos to fire rubber bullets against Chinese fishermen early this year after Lee Cheong-ho, a Coast Guard officer, was stabbed to death by a Chinese captain last December.

In 2008, another Coast Guard officer, Park Kyeong-jo, was killed with a blunt weapon wielded by a Chinese fisherman.

Chinese fishermen unlawfully operating in the South Korean exclusive economic zone are not much different from pirates as they use primitive lethal weapons such as axes, saws, sickles and steel pipes against Korean Coast Guard officers who try to seize their vessels.

They are desperate to catch fish in Korean waters as fishery resources along the Chinese coast have been depleted by overfishing and pollution.

Illegal fishing by Chinese boats has been on the rise. In 2010, the Korea Coast Guard seized 370 Chinese vessels. The number increased to 584 in 2011 and is expected to top 700 this year.

As illegal fishing keeps increasing, so does damage to Korean fishermen. Therefore, for the Korea Coast Guard, there is no choice but to crack down on Chinese fishing boats.

No country in the world would tolerate illegal fishing by foreign vessels in its waters that inflict serious damage on its people.

Following the tragic death of the Chinese fisherman, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul expressed deep regret to the Seoul government.

A spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry also urged the Seoul government to thoroughly investigate the latest incident and to stop violent law enforcement to prevent the recurrence of a similar incident.

To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, however, the Chinese government should first change its stance on Chinese fishermen illegally operating in Korean waters.

The Beijing government has thus far been far from eager to deter Chinese fishing boats from encroaching upon other countries’ territorial waters. Its lax attitude toward Chinese fishermen led to repeated occurrences of tragic incidents, which caused unnecessary tension in Seoul-Beijing relations.

Therefore, Beijing officials should change their policy and prevent illegal fishing in the Korean EEZ. They should also handle the death of the fisherman in a straightforward manner to prevent it from degenerating into a diplomatic conflict.