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Showing posts with label Paracel Islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paracel Islands. Show all posts

Thursday 15 May 2014

Philippines violates UN Convention



The Philippines detained 11 Chinese fishermen for unverifiable crime after seizing their vessel near China's Half Moon Shoal in the South China Sea on May 6. On Monday, the Philippines defied China's demand to free the fishermen and charged nine of them with poaching more than 500 endangered sea turtles. Two fishermen, both minors, will be sent back home.

By doing so, the Philippines has violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which it has been trying to use to legalize its claim on China's islands in the South China Sea.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters in the South China Sea. In May 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam jointly submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf a notification of the two countries' continental shelf claims in the South China Sea, and Vietnam also unilaterally made another submission. In response, China submitted its map of the nine-dash line attached to two note verbales to the UN to refute the two countries' extended continental shelf claims. In the notes, China stated that it has the sovereignty and sovereign rights over the territorial sea and exclusive economic zones of Nansha Islands.

Since Half Moon Shoal is part of the Nansha Islands, Manila has no right to detain any vessel or fisherman fishing in its waters. By doing so, it has violated international norms for the fishing industry, as well as the UNCLOS.

China has been exercising its administrative jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands and its surrounding waters by carrying out normal maritime operations. But of late, Chinese fishermen have not been feeling safe in the South China Sea because of the belligerent attitude of some countries locked in territorial disputes with China.

According to the UNCLOS, after being authorized to fish in some exclusive economic zones, countries should abide by the laws and regulations of the coastal states when it comes to the management and conservation of resources. The coast guard of a coastal state could board and check the relevant documents of vessels fishing in the waters near its coast if they violate these laws and regulations. It could even detain the fishermen. But under no circumstances, should the fishermen (or other people on board the vessels) be subjected to corporal punishment and imprisonment.

Moreover, Manila has failed to honor the regional order. The UNCLOS says the disputing countries should resolve the issue of overlapping economic zone boundaries through agreements on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable outcome. In case the disputing countries fail to reach an agreement, they should try to work out a provisional arrangement and, during the transition stage, both sides should avoid taking unilateral actions that could hinder the possibility of a final agreement.

The Nansha Islands are within 400 nautical miles of all the countries locked in the South China Sea disputes. Since China has sovereignty over the islands, its duly exclusive economic zone overlaps with those of the other disputing countries. So it's important that Manila faces up to a sea boundary delimitation dispute with Beijing.

To maintain regional stability and to resolve the disputes in the South China Sea through peaceful means, China and ASEAN signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. Beijing's proposal of "shelving the disputes and conducting joint exploration" got positive response from the disputing countries and praise from the international community. This could be regarded as a provisional arrangement for the ultimate resolution of the disputes.

But using its advantageous geographical position and assuming that the disputed areas are part of its territory, the Philippines has been seizing Chinese fishing vessels and detaining Chinese fishermen. Such provocative actions by the Philippines are worsening the already tense atmosphere in the region.

It should thus be clear to the international community that Manila, not Beijing, has violated the DOC and the UNCLOS, as well as further damaged the fragile Sino-Philippine relations. And justice chooses those who choose to side with it.

Contributed by Li Jieyu (China Daily)

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Sunday 11 May 2014

US support no use for Manila to bluff South China Sea claims


The US and the Philippines began a two-week military drill on Monday. This "shoulder to shoulder" exercise is widely believed to be targeted at China. Some US analysts even argue that Washington should adopt a national strategy oriented at South China Sea to stop China's "aggression" in this region. Without a correct understanding of China's South China Sea policy and the US role in this area, these analysts miscalculated the real Asia-Pacific geopolitics.

China is depicted by many Western media as a bully in South China Sea, but the reality is that most of the Nansha Islands are forcibly occupied by those supposedly "bullied," such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

We shouldn't draw a simple conclusion that China and the US will engage in a hot war if Washington gets fully involved in this area. It's too naïve a judgment, as what the Philippines and Japan are aiming at is to turn their conflicts with China into a direct confrontation between China and the US. Such change is unlikely to happen in post-Cold War international relations.

The islands disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea are a battle for national interests. They have led to a strategic game between China and the US, but its intensity is not high.

Where the game heads to relies on how the stakeholders, especially China and the US, interact with each other. Neither Manila nor Washington can manipulate the situation. China has more power to reshape the scenario.

Both China and the US are global powers, and the islands disputes constitute just a fraction of their bilateral relationship. Neither China can cherish illusions that the US will stay neutral in the South China Sea, nor the Philippines and Japan can indulge in a reverie that Washington would jeopardize its relationship with China for their petty interests.

China has more confidence than ever to face the US in the South China Sea chessboard. A growing US-China relationship benefits the US, which mandates that US doesn't allow its warships to be locked in a dangerous standoff with China.

What's more, China's actions have never really touched the nerve of the US. People with insight can see the restraint and prudence of China's South China Sea policy.

The other stakeholders in this area should cast away illusions that the US would be their "big daddy." Bilateral negotiations with China are the only way to address these disputes and to protect their own interests.

Washington's military deployment in Asia-Pacific can hardly be turned into real deterrence against China, but the US won't stop making mischief in this area. However, under the framework of a new type of major power relationship, China is gathering more experience to play the chess with the US.

Countries like the Philippines and Japan should better update their knowledge about China. Borrowing power from the US and scaring China reflects nothing but their short-sightedness.

Source:Global Times Published: 2014-5-7 0:33:01

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 The high-profile interventions by the US in the disputes between China and some of its neighbors over some islands or reefs and maritime entitlements in recent years, have seen the US frequent making use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It seems that according to the US, China has become a violator of UNCLOS.    

Saturday 21 July 2012

China launches Sansha City Maritime management in South China Sea

Sansha City to administer South China Sea

HAIKOU: Maritime management has begun in the newly established city of Sansha in the South China Sea, as local Chinese authorities hope to enhance maritime safety there and protect the environment.




 The building on Yongping Island will be home to the Sansha city government. [File photo]

The State Council, or China's cabinet, approved the establishment of Sansha, a prefectural-level city in south China's Hainan province, to administer the Xisha (Paracels) , Zhongsha (Middles Sands) and Nansha (Spratlys) islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea on June 21.



"We began maritime management there soon after the State Council's decision was made," a spokesman with the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration said Thursday.

Maritime personnel are working to build infrastructure, buoy tenders, supply bases, light stations and radio stations in order to enhance maritime supervision and rescue capabilities, the spokesman said.

Maritime authorities are also studying sea travel routes in the area and considering introducing new laws to regulate traffic, as Sansha will develop its own tourism industry in the future and receive more ships, he said.

In addition, the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration is now researching the disposal of waste and pollutants and the supervision of yachts in an effort to keep a clean marine environment, the spokesman added.

"We are also planning to cruise regularly in the area in the future and set up a daily cruise mechanism when conditions are ripe," he said.

China on Tuesday set up an organizing committee for the legislative body of Sansha, officially beginning the formation of the government of the newly established city.

The government seat of Sansha will be stationed on Yongxing Island, part of the Xisha Islands.

Sansha administers over 200 islets, sandbanks and reefs in the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands.

China said it first discovered and named the reefs, islets and surrounding waters of Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands. In 1959, it became the first country to set up an administrative office to exercise sovereignty over the area.

By Lu Hui. Xinhua

Mayor elected in China's newly established Sansha city

  
Representatives pose for group pictures after the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress held on Yongxing Island, the government seat of Sansha City, in south China's Hainan province, July 23, 2012. Forty-five deputies to the municipal people's congress attended the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress and cast their votes. Xiao Jie was elected the first mayor of the newly established Sansha city Monday afternoon. (Xinhua/Hou Jiansen)
 
YONGXING ISLAND, Hainan, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The newly established city of Sansha in the South China Sea elected its first mayor Monday afternoon.

Xiao Jie, 51, head of the Hainan Provincial Agriculture Department, was elected mayor in the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress held on Yongxing Island, the government seat of the city.

Xiao was also appointed secretary of the Sansha Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Fu Zhuang, 56, deputy director of Hainan Provincial Civil Air Defence Office, was elected director of the standing committee of Sansha Municipal People's Congress, the city's legislative body.

The legislative conference also elected three deputy mayors, head of the city's intermediate people's court and procuratorate. It also elected another five members of the standing committee of the Sansha Municipal People's Congress.

"It's a great honor to be the first mayor of Sansha, and it's also a brand new mission, challenge and test for me," said Xiao.

The first Sansha municipal government will be devoted to administrative management, economic development, people's livelihoods and environment protection in the coming five years, Xiao said.
The deputies and members of the standing committee of the municipal People's Congress should make positive contributions to the management, development and protection of the islands as well as the sea waters surrounding Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha, said Fu.

Forty-five deputies to the municipal people's congress attended the first session of the first Sansha Municipal People's Congress and cast their votes.

The deputies, divided into groups from the Xisha, Nansha and Zhongsha islands, were elected Saturday by 1,100 residents from the islands.

The State Council, or China's cabinet, in June approved the establishment of Sansha, a prefectural-level city in south China's Hainan province to administer the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands and the surrounding waters in the South China Sea.

China's central military authority has approved the formation and deployment of a military garrison in Sansha.

Sources with the People's Liberation Army Guangzhou Military Command said Friday that the Central Military Commission had authorized it to form a garrison command in the city.

Yongxing Island is part of the Xisha Islands.

Sunday 24 June 2012

China lawmakers slam Vietnam violates South China Sea code of conduct

Correct erroneous maritime law, Vietnam urged

The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on Friday urged Vietnam to correct an erroneous maritime law it passed on Thursday.


Hanoi's disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea have given rise to frictions, and analysts said the passed law may internationalize the issue and bring a heavy blow to bilateral relations.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC expressed its position concerning the recent passing of the Vietnamese Law of the Sea in a letter to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Vietnamese National Assembly.

The Vietnamese National Assembly passed the Vietnamese Law of the Sea to include China's Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea within Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction.

The NPC expressed its firm opposition to the move and urged the Vietnamese National Assembly "to correct the erroneous practice immediately."

"The move by the Vietnamese National Assembly is a serious violation of China's territorial sovereignty and is illegal and invalid.

It violates the consensus reached by both leaders, as well as the principles of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee said in the letter.

"The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee hopes the Vietnamese National Assembly to honestly respect China's territorial sovereignty and correct the wrongful practice so as to safeguard the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as well as the friendly relations between China's NPC and the Vietnamese National Assembly," the letter said.

The NPC also reaffirmed in the letter that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Xisha islands, Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters.
- Xinhua/Asia News Network

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