Wednesday, January 9, 2013

RP blasts China over patrol boats in Spratlys


Source: The Daily Tribune
More tension arose between China and the Philippines as the China state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the patrol ship Haixun 21 sailed into the high seas last Thursday under the administration of the Maritime Safety Administration of Hainan province, from which China administers the South China Sea, part of which is now called by the Philippine government as the West Philippine Sea.
The earlier announced deployment by China of its police border patrol, scheduled on Jan. 1, 2013, came three days earlier than scheduled.
The Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, blasted China again over its deployment of police border patrol boats, reiterating the Philippine calls for China to respect Philippine maritime domains in the South China Sea, saying that it “strongly objects” to Chinese patrol of these areas.
The Philippine government on Friday said it has strong objections over China’s deployment of a new patrol vessel in the South China Sea where the two countries have a seething maritime territorial dispute.
Such patrols will not boost China’s claim to the disputed territory where the two countries have had a standoff since April, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement.
“The Philippines strongly objects to the Chinese patrol of Philippine maritime domain in the West Philippine Sea,” the statement said, using the local name for the South China Sea.
It called on China to respect the country’s “territorial sovereignty and EEZ”, referring to the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
“The Philippines again calls on China to respect our territorial sovereignty and exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Philippines strongly objects to the Chinese patrol of Philippine maritime domain in the West Philippine Sea,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez said in a statement sent to reporters.
“Such patrol will not validate the nine-dash lines (claim of China) and is contrary to China’s obligation under international law including Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” the statement added.
The DFA issued the statement after reports noted that China sent its first patrol vessel to the disputed areas Thursday ahead of the enforcement of new rules that authorized Chinese border police to board, search and expel foreign vessels from waters Beijing considers its territory.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday an ocean-going patrol vessel equipped with a helipad would be deployed to the South China Sea, the first of its kind in the area.
In late November, China said it had granted its border patrol police the right to board and turn away foreign ships entering the disputed waters, raising fears of a confrontation.
Both the Philippines and China have overlapping claims over parts of the South China Sea, a major shipping route that is also believed to hold vast mineral resources.
Tensions between China and the Philippines have risen in the area since April after ships from both countries had a standoff over a rock outcropping known as the Scarborough Shoal.
While the Philippines has withdrawn its ships, it says China reneged on an agreement to pull out its own vessels.
China claims the shoal as well as nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its EEZ.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario had earlier said that the DFA had tasked the country’s embassy in Beijing, as well as the Chinese embassy in Manila, for clarification of the new maritime rules, as well as of reports that China was investing $1.6 billion to fortify and develop islands involved in territorial disputes with Southeast Asian nations in the West Philippine Sea.
China never responded to the Philippine statement for clarification.
In Taipei, another claimant has come into the picture and there will probably be additional tension with Taiwan.
Agence France Presse reported that Taiwan plans to start exploring for oil and gas in the South China Sea from next year, an official and local media said Friday, in a development that could increase tensions in the contested waters.
The Bureau of Mines and state-run oil supplier CPC Corp. are expected to kick off exploration in 2013 in the sea around Taiping, the biggest islet in the Spratly archipelago, the United Daily News website and other media reported.
Jerry Ou, head of the Bureau of Energy, announced the plan Thursday in parliament, the paper said, adding that a budget of Tw$17 million ($585,000) had been set aside for the project.
“At the moment, it’s something that’s being planned by the government, and we haven’t received any details yet,” an official with CPC Corp. told AFP, declining to be named.
The Bureau of Energy declined comment, while the Bureau of Mining was not immediately available for a reaction to the report.
Taiwan, which does not have any oil resources of its own and is dependent on imports mainly from the Middle East and Africa, would seem to have solid economic reasons for looking for new energy reserves.
However, carrying out oil and gas exploration in the Spratlys could ratchet up tensions, as the islands are claimed entirely or in part by Taiwan, Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
All claimants except Brunei have troops based on the group of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which are spread across a vast area but have a total land mass of less than five square kilometers.
Taiwan maintains a small coastguard garrison on Taiping, 1,400 kilometers from its southern coast, and earlier this year sent new mortar and anti-aircraft systems to the islet, angering Vietnam.
Meanwhile, former Sen. Richard Gordon has called on the government to carefully study China’s intentions regarding the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Gordon made the call following reports that China sent its first patrol vessel to disputed areas ahead of the enforcement of new rules authorizing Chinese border police to board, search and expel foreign vessels from waters Beijing considers its territory.
“I really fear that the problem is getting bigger. What China does is not what China says,” Gordon said.
“We should look carefully or ensure what the interntions of China are and not just its police and military strength,” Gordon added.
Gordon is apprehensive that history seems to be repeating itself, with China’s latest move an act of bullying.
“This is history happening all over again. Before it was Japan that China bullied. Then China took over Manchuria. Now China bullies the Philippines,” he said.
With AFP

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