Thread: South China Sea

Philippines to Fortify Airstrip, Troop Quarters in Spratlys
By TERESA CEROJANO / AP WRITER / MANILA
Friday, March 28, 2008


The Philippines will soon expand an existing airstrip on an island in the disputed Spratlys and fortify quarters for troops stationed there, the air force chief said Friday.

The Spratlys, believed to be rich in oil, gas and fish stocks, consist of about 100 barren islets, reefs and atolls dotting the world's busiest shipping lanes in the South China Sea. Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim all or part of the low-lying islands.

Lt-Gen Pedrito Cadungog said Friday that navy ships would start hauling building materials to Pag-asa island next month.

He said the island's runway will be lengthened and eroded portions repaired for the safety of military C-130 planes. Dilapidated troop quarters will be repaired and bolstered.

Cadungog said the work should not be compared to China's occupation in 1995 of Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef, where Beijing built concrete structures that it said were shelters for fishermen.

That incident raised tensions in the region and was protested by the Philippines.

"It's not part of occupying an island and building a fortress," Cadungog told reporters. "That island (Pag-asa) is ours from the beginning."

He said the air force signed a contract with a private contractor for the work and it was supposed to start last month, but the contractor backed out at the last minute.

There is little time for new bidding on the project, and if weather permits, the armed forces will do the work itself starting next month, he added.

A visit last month by then-Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to an island in the Spratly chain claimed by Taiwan sparked protests from Vietnam and the Philippines.

Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, the Philippine armed forces chief, said Monday that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo plans to visit the Philippine-claimed Kalayaan islands, of which Pag-asa is a part. However, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita denied she would go.

irrawaddy.org



cache.eb.com


mine says China


spratlys.org



globalsecurity.org

Baited breath whilst we wait for china's reaction.

The Spratly's have been a bone of contention for a long time - I would have thought that purely geographically and according to naval/maritime law China would not even be in the running, but they are the big bully boys in the region . . . Pricks

China defends Spratlys sea patrol
16/03/2009
By: AFP

China on Monday defended its move to send a patrol ship to the disputed Spratly islands, saying it was not a violation of an agreement to maintain the peace in the South China Sea.


A file Philippine Air Force photo shows Chinese built structures on the Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea. China on Monday defended its move to send a patrol ship to the disputed Spratly islands, saying it was not a violation of an agreement to maintain the peace in the area.

The vessel is a "fishery patrol ship, not a warship," Hua Ye, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Manila, said in a statement.

"I don't think the Chinese side has done anything or violated the Declaration of the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea."

That 2002 declaration called on all claimants to the Spratlys -- including the Philippines and China -- to refrain from any action that could heighten tension, including military build-up and construction work.

The statement came a day after China's Beijing News said a converted naval patrol vessel had been dispatched to what it claims are its exclusive maritime zones covering the disputed Spratlys and Paracels islands.

The report said the ship would assist Chinese fishing boats and transport vessels. However, the move is largely seen here as China flexing its military might against the smaller claimants.

Presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde said the foreign ministry in Manila was "already using normal diplomatic channels to solve this diplomatically."

"While it is true that this is a cause for concern, let us not overreact," Remonde said.

He noted however that the US government has complained that one of its research vessels was harassed recently by Chinese naval ships in waters off southern China.

The Philippines foreign ministry said it would keep to the 2002 declaration and urged other claimants to do the same.

Meanwhile, Philippine Navy spokesman Colonel Edgardo Arevalo said they were trying to verify and monitor the exact location of the Chinese vessel, but also urged the public to remain calm.

"There is yet no cause for alarm as sending patrol boats by different claimant countries in the areas where they claim in Spratlys is tolerated," Arevalo said.

He added that, like China, the Philippines has troops stationed in some islets to "protect territorial integrity."

The Spratlys, a chain of atolls and reefs, is significant because it is believed to sit atop vast mineral and oil deposits.

Apart from China and the Philippines, it is also being claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

bangkokpost.com

I'm in the Philippines at the moment and can safely say that the locals hardly see it as an innocent patrol

well pin a rose on your fucking nose..

I have my very own stalker . . . in a Zimmerframe

Philippines to seek help of allies on Spratlys case
Christian V. Esguerra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Publication Date: 17-03-2009

The Philippines will seek the help of its allies in dealing with China’s action in the disputed territories in the South China Sea, Malacañang said Monday (March 16).

“Our national security advisers are already looking into other options,” Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokesperson, said in a briefing.

“If we really need to ask the help of our allies and the other countries in the Asean, then we might be forced to do so,” she said.

The Philippines has a standing mutual defense treaty with the United States, which is also in the thick of a dispute with Beijing over the deployment of a US naval surveillance patrol near China’s waters.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to which the Philippines belongs, is committed to the creation of a “zone of peace, freedom and neutrality.”

“We have to be prepared for any consequences,” Fajardo said.

“We cannot just depend on the United Nations as much as that should be the first line of defence—diplomacy,” she said. “But, of course, we have to protect our sovereignty as much as China is doing now.”

Over the weekend, the state-owned Beijing News said a converted naval patrol vessel had been dispatched to what it claimed was its exclusive maritime zone covering the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands.

This followed the signing of the Philippine Baselines Law and the intrusion of the surveillance patrol USNS Impeccable.

The Pentagon has announced that the US Navy had dispatched the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon to the area after five Chinese ships allegedly harassed the Impeccable.

Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile said the new Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, Liu Jianchao, told him Monday that the Chinese deployment had nothing to do with the baselines law.

“They have to assert their right over the zone in the same manner that (if) somebody entered our economic zone we will equally assert our right to our zone,” Enrile said, adding that there is no need to lose sleep over the incident.

‘Not a welcome development’

Asked for comment during a visit to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City Monday, defence secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr said: “Right now, it is too early to say, but the sending of a warship to the area is certainly not a welcome development.”

Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez, Philippine Navy chief, added: “This should not cause us any alarm. Let’s relax.”

Press secretary Cerge Remonde on Sunday said the government was looking up to the United Nations to resolve the dispute.

Remonde Monday said the Philippines was adhering to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which outlined steps to resolve conflicts in the area. China is a signatory to this agreement.

Asked if Manila would remind Beijing on the matter, Fajardo said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs will be working on that ... Diplomacy is still the key. It is the first defence of any civilised nation.”

Fajardo said China’s decision to dispatch a patrol boat in the disputed area was a “normal reaction” to President Gloria Arroyo’s signing of the Philippine Baselines Law.

The measure treats only as part of a “regime of islands” the disputed Kalayaan Group and Scarborough Shoal. Still, China said the law was “illegal”.

‘We cannot overreact’

“We are confident that this can be resolved in the United Nations,” Fajardo said. “We cannot overreact because we don’t want to create tension.”

She said the matter would be tackled soon by the national security group of the Cabinet.

Parañaque Rep Roilo Golez said he was concerned about an “eyeball to eyeball” confrontation between the navies of the United States and China.

Golez pointed out that the South China Sea has long been a flashpoint between the world’s major powers.

He said that during last year’s election in the United States, there was a warning that President Barack Obama would be tested early in his term.

“I pray that the diplomats are hard at work now burning the wires,” Golez said.

Palawan Rep Abraham Mitra said that these state-of-the-art military hardware should be met with state-of-the-art diplomacy.

‘Coalition of the willing’

“When bullied we keep our composure and let the aggressor be shamed by the international condemnation that such a behaviour will trigger. We should be able to create a coalition of the willing which will reproach China’s expansionist design,” Mitra said.

Cebu Rep Antonio Cuenco, chair of the House foreign affairs committee, said national security adviser Norberto Gonzales was being too “jumpy, paranoid” in calling for an emergency meeting of the Cabinet cluster on the Chinese move.

“This matter will be settled in a friendly way,” Cuenco said, adding that China was not about to attack the country.

“The Chinese would think twice because the Americans would retaliate. I don’t think China will attack... They’ll be attacking a country with which the United States has a mutual defence treaty,” he said.

The Western Command in Puerto Princesa is not making any move to counter the Chinese presence in the Spratlys, said Col Amerigo Fabrigar, WesCom spokesperson.

“We have not received any special orders from the general headquarters,” he said.

With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Leila B. Salaverria, Jocelyn R. Uy, Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon

asianewsnet.net

Wonder if the Filipinos would be persuing such activities if they didn't have Uncle Sugar covering their back....bit of the moot point anyway, most everyone will back down to the Chinese.

I thought they were part of France.

China's Personal Lake
Friday, 30 April 2010

Beijing delivers new threats over its hegemony over the South China Sea

China's campaign to present its rise as peaceful has made plenty of headway, helped along by actual or promised investment and aid. This is particularly in natural resources which Beijing needs and in heavy infrastructure projects—power stations, roads etc – for which Chinese companies have expertise and being cash rich can offer easy credit terms.

But another prong of China's rise looks increasingly like the application or threat of it of hard power towards its neighbors. In the latest such indication, on April 25, to quote Xinhua, China's fishery administration said it had started regular patrols of the South China Sea, sending two vessels to take over from two others currently escorting Chinese fishing boats in the area of the Spratly islands (known as Nansha in Chinese, Truong Sa in Vietnamese).

The Chinese spokesman said the patrol ships, based at Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan island, were sent to escort fishing boats in the South China Sea and reinforce China's fishing rights of the waters around the Nansha Islands.

The wording here is somewhat ominous. The vessels are not simply there to protect fishing boats from possible harassment by ships belonging to other claimants to the islands, or provide medical and other civilian support facilities. They are to "reinforce" Chinese fishing rights, implying that they may be used to prevent fishing by non-Chinese. That remains to be see but there is no doubt that China has been ramping up its actions as well as rhetoric over the South China Sea in ways which appear at odds with earlier promises to settle disputes peacefully and enabling development of resources on a bilateral basis.

That promise was anyway always rather hollow as for the Spratlys bilateral deals solve nothing given that all the 200 or islands, banks and shoals comprising this widespread group are the subject of at least three claims. China's claims cover all of them with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan some of them. The widely scattered Spratlys all lie in the southern part of the sea, a long way from Hainan compared with their proximity to the southern coast of Vietnam, the Philippines' Palawan island, and the Malaysia and Brunei territory on the north coast of Borneo. The Chinese claim stretches close to all those coasts and to the nearby gas-rich Natuna islands group which belongs to Indonesia.

China has already been using force to back up its claims to the Paracels (Xisha to Chinese Huong Sa to Vietnamese) which are only otherwise claimed by Vietnam. (China seized them from then South Vietnam in the dying days of the Thieu regime in Saigon).

On March 22 Chinese gunboats seized a Vietnamese fishing vessel reportedly fishing in waters off the Paracels. China has also sought to strengthen its hold on the little sandy islands with plans for tourist development.

The Vietnamese however are showing scant sign of being intimidated by Beijing, despite the burgeoning trade between the two countries. When China announced an earlier Nansha patrol on April 1 Vietnam responded with a visit by President Nguyen Minh Triet to Bach Long Vi, an island halfway between the Vietnam coast and China's Hainan island. It is occupied by Vietnam but has been claimed by China. Meanwhile Vietnam appears to have been strengthening its presence on the Spratlys where it occupies more islands and reefs than any other claimant.

Vietnam is buying six submarines from Russia, which retains close relations with Hanoi, and has been gradually developing contacts with the US. Its defense minister visited Washington and Paris earlier this year at the same time the prime minister was visiting Moscow. It has accepted US ships for repair near Cam Ranh Bay, the important naval facility built by the United States during the Vietnam War on the south/central coast. The US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, Kurt Campbell, remarked in Hong Kong April 26 that "no other country in southeast Asia wanted an improved relationship with the US more than its old enemy, Vietnam."

Vietnam has also been trying to bring more international attention to the South China Sea issues, last November organizing a workshop in Hanoi of academic experts on the subject. This drew participation not just from China and other claimant states but experts in law and history from other countries including Russia, Britain, France and Indonesia. Vietnam wants to use its chairmanship of Asean to make this more of an Asean issue.

However, not even all claimant states are keen to ruffle China's feathers at present, at least publicly. The Philippines makes occasional nationalistic noises on the subject but patriotism must compete with the power of Chinese money.

Malaysia has also attempted to lay claim to three islands and four rock groups. Malaysia was the earliest oil operator in the sea through its national oil company Petronas. As early as 1990, Malaysia announced it had established a submarine base on one of the islets although it didn't take delivery of a submarine until 2010.However, its armed forces have been the center of corruption scandals, particularly over three submarines, which cast doubt on their operational effectiveness.

Although the South China Sea's resources – oil, gas, fish – are significant, particularly for the smaller littoral countries, China's main goal is strategic – to give it effective control of the shipping lanes and hence of trade between Japan and Southeast Asia and hence also the main routes to South Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

It is thus ironic that at a time when some Asian nations, not least Indonesia and India, are looking to improve relations with the US to ward off the longer term possibility of the sea becoming a "Chinese lake," Japan is undermining its US links with its attempt to remove its bases from Okinawa.

asiasentinel.com

Originally Posted by Mid

The Vietnamese however are showing scant sign of being intimidated by Beijing,

Good

Originally Posted by Mid

As early as 1990, Malaysia announced it had established a submarine base on one of the islets although it didn't take delivery of a submarine until 2010.

My little monkey country

Originally Posted by Mid

It is thus ironic that at a time when some Asian nations, not least Indonesia and India, are looking to improve relations with the US to ward off the longer term possibility of the sea becoming a "Chinese lake," Japan is undermining its US links with its attempt to remove its bases from Okinawa.

I fail to see the irony . . . US troops have been in Japan for close to 70 years . . .

Tempest in the South China Sea
Monday, 14 June 2010



Who owns nearly US$300 billion of undersea crude? Malaysia or Brunei? Or both?

On March 16 of 2009, the governments of Brunei and Malaysia exchanged letters that essentially meant Brunei had abandoned its claim to a nondescript 7,800 square kilometer patch of mud flats and mangrove swamps called Limbang, which had been claimed by both for two decades.

Over the last three months, however, the agreement appears to have blown up in Malaysia's face with accusations that two exploration blocks in the South China Sea which were ceded to Brunei in the letters may contain anywhere from 1 billion to 4 billion barrels of crude. Thus, at the current price of US$74.20 per barrel, critics argue, Malaysia may have ceded anywhere from US$74.2 billion to US$296.8 billion in revenues to the tiny sultanate – or more. Crude hit a record US$147.27 per barrel on July 11, 2008, before falling back as the world financial crisis hit.

continues here : Asia Sentinel - Tempest in the South China Sea

asiasentinel.com

Wondered when this would come up considering the increased attention.

I understood it involves many countries claims including Vietnam and China as well as the ones mentioned. Possibly a military conflict.

6 ships attacked in 6 days
Jun 16, 2010


A global maritime watchdog Wednesday warned of increasing pirate attacks in the south of the South China Sea following six incidents in as many days in waters off Indonesia.
PHOTO: AFP

KUALA LUMPUR - A GLOBAL maritime watchdog Wednesday warned of increasing pirate attacks in the south of the South China Sea following six incidents in as many days in waters off Indonesia.

Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) piracy monitoring centre said the latest attack brought to 14 the number in the area so far this year. On Wednesday a Singapore-flagged container ship was boarded by six armed pirates who stole cash and property.

'The attacks that began on June 10 are concentrated in an area near Indonesia's Anambas, Natuna and Mangkai islands,' he told AFP. 'We have issued alerts on the area in the past and have again informed the Indonesian authorities, asking for an increase in patrols. The attacks go down following an increase in patrols but they slowly creep up again once patrols are reduced.'

Mr Choong said a Malaysian-registered tanker was boarded on June 10 in the area while a South Korean cargo vessel was attacked the same day.

A Cypriot container ship was boarded on June 12, a Chinese-flagged tanker was attacked on June 13 and a Singapore-registered tanker was robbed on June 15, he added.

'The pirates usually attack in the hours of darkness and they target the ship's safe, property and personal belongings,' Mr Choong added. 'Unlike Somalian pirates, the ones in the region abort their attempts when they are spotted so we advise all vessels to ensure they are vigilant to prevent such boardings.'

straitstimes.com

The Great Game for the Spratlys
Philip Bowring
Friday, 06 August 2010


Vietnam takes command of the issue

Vietnam has been remarkably successful in getting the South China Sea issue back onto the international agenda, in the process underscoring its new ties with the United States and asserting Hanoi's leadership of Asean on this issue.

China is furious but its reaction, seemingly driven by President Hu and the People's Liberation Army rather than the foreign ministry in strongly re-asserting China's claims to the whole sea, has brought further attention to the issue. It is being watched closely by Japan, and Russia and India are continuing to strengthen their relations with Vietnam partly with the sea issue and navigation rights in mind.

However, the Southeast Asian countries in dispute with China would be in a very much stronger position to confront China's claims if they were able to resolve their own conflicting claims or at least engage in the joint exploitation to which they are in theory pledged. There is scant sign to date that they are going in that direction.

Essentially there are two rather separate issues in the dispute. The first, which involves only the littoral countries China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei (for these purposes Taiwan's claims are the same as China's).

The second is about freedom of navigation. That involves all major nations for whom the waterway is crucial for their shipping, including nearby countries like Indonesia as well as Japan, the US, etc. As China claims dominion over the entire sea as well as its various islands and rocks, acceptance of its claim would turn the sea into a Chinese lake to which others could only have access with China's consent even though China and Taiwan between them own only about 20 the sea's coastline.

Indonesia additionally has a separate issue. Although China's claims do not impinge on any of its land waters, they come so close to the Natuna gas field that issues of ownership of gas deposits could become disputed, as well as seabed rights to the northeast of the Natuna field.

Offshore oil and gas is important for the Southeast Asian states but much less so for China, for whom the region's reserves are assumed to be relatively small compared to its needs. Likewise fishing is of some interest to all the nations but over-fishing means this is less and less significant. China's over-riding interest is strategic.

Of the various disputed groups, the Paracels, which lie due east of Danang, are only claimed by Vietnam and China – which forcibly occupied them in the dying days of the South Vietnam regime. Only China and the Philippines dispute the Scarborough shoal and Macclesfield bank.

It is the Spratly group which is the main bone of contention, with all claimants overlapping and where the non-Chinese ones need to find some common ground. Vietnam claims all the Spratlys by right of historical occupation even though most of them lie closer to the Philippine and Malaysian coasts.(China's claims are similarly based on history, real or imagined) The Philippines claims most but not all on a mixture of principles – the archipelago principle, continental shelf, and occupation of empty territory. The Malaysian and Brunei claims are based on the continental shelf principle – the islands lie in seabed of less than 200 meters in depth extending from their coastline.

As of now Vietnam has a presence on about 20, China about nine, the Philippines about eight, Malaysia three and Taiwan just on1 of the islands, rocks and shoals. With such conflicting bases for their claims, as well as the claims themselves, it will be extraordinarily difficult for the non-Chinese nations to get together. Nationalist sentiment runs against abandoning any claims. Seemingly meaningless rocks become national symbols. Nor does it seem likely that they would agree to submit to international arbitration rulings in the way that Malaysia settled disputes with Indonesia and Singapore.

But they could surely agree – and in this be joined by Indonesia and maybe Singapore – in asserting both freedom of navigation and the principle that claims to specific islands do not include claims to 200-mile economic zones.

The navigation issue is doubly important because the main shipping channels, through which pass a major portion of global sea trade -- run to the north of the Spratlys, an area of widely varying depths and many shoals. The islands themselves are of economic value and only the continental shelves appear to offer oil and gas prospects.

On the question of history the non-Chinese could also form a common front – at least if they were better informed about their pre-colonial pasts. Vietnam's claims are based on Vietnamese imperial records. But a much earlier claim can be made for the Cham empire, based in what is now central Vietnam. The Cham were a Hinduized, Austronesian (same language family as Malay, Tagalog etc) -speaking people who ran much of the trade in the south China sea until the 15th century. Vietnam may be reluctant to make a claim based on a nation it wiped out, but there is abundant evidence of trading across the southern and central part of this sea long before the Chinese became involved.

Indeed despite the name given to it by westerners and then translated into Malay and Tagalog, the South China Sea is more a Malay than a Chinese sea. In the days of the Cham empire it was known as the Cham Sea. Seafarers from Borneo ran the spice trade with China while those from Sumatra (the Sri Vijayan empire and others) the shipping that brought Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to India and Sri Lanka, and reached the coasts of Africa a thousand years before China's Admiral Zheng He during the Ming dynasty.

Indeed, if the Asean claimants were to start with a joint study of their history trading and fishing across the sea, they might have a better grasp of where their interests now lie.

asiasentinel.com

China tells US to 'keep out'
Sep 21, 2010


Hong Kong protesters shout slogan near the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong. China has told the US to 'keep out' of the spat between China and Japan over the collision of a Chinese boat with two Japanese coastguard ships.
PHOTO: AP

BEIJING - CHINA on Tuesday warned the United States not to interfere in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea at an upcoming meeting in New York between President Barack Obama and Asean leaders.

'We are resolutely opposed to countries not involved interfering... and we oppose the internationalisation of the South China dispute because it will only make the issue more complicated,' foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said.

'Right now, the South China Sea is generally stable and China is deepening and expanding its relations with Asean countries' on the issue, she said.

Mr Obama will meet Asean leaders in New York on Friday on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly as the US seeks to bolster its role in a region faced with a rising China.

'We will pay attention to any statement that the US and Asean may issue,' Ms Jiang said, adding: 'China enjoys indisputable sovereign rights on the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters'.

China insists it has complete sovereignty over the potentially resource-rich Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea. However the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have competing claims. -- AFP

straitstimes.com

Fucking get in there Scarborough and Macclesfield.

Obama, Asean Seek Peaceful End to China Sea Disputes
TERESA CEROJANO, AP WRITER
Monday, September 20, 2010

MANILA—US President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders will call for the peaceful settlement of South China Sea territorial disputes and urge claimants not to resort to force, according to a draft communique.

Washington upped the ante in July, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a regional security forum in Vietnam that the peaceful resolution of the disputes over the Spratly and Paracel groups of islands was an American national interest.

The United States is concerned the conflicts could hamper access to one of the world's busiest commercial sea lanes, she said.

Beijing angrily reacted by saying Washington was interfering in an Asian regional issue.

Obama will meet leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Friday to discuss ways to bolster their alliance and discuss economic cooperation and security issues, including the South China Sea disputes.

Obama and the Asean leaders will issue a joint statement where Washington has proposed a text to reaffirm the importance of freedom of navigation, regional stability, respect for international law and unimpeded commerce in the South China Sea, according to a draft of the statement seen on Sunday by The Associated Press.

The statement will oppose the "use or threat of force by any claimant attempting to enforce disputed claims in the South China Sea."

All the leaders will reaffirm their backing of a 2002 Asean-China declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea, which calls on claimants not to take steps that could foment violence and spark new tension. They will encourage claimants to agree on a stronger code of conduct.

China claims all of the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines have also laid territorial claims. Aside from rich fishing areas, the region is believed to have huge oil and natural gas deposits. The contested islands straddle busy sea lanes that are a crucial conduit for oil and other resources fueling China's fast-expanding economy.

In a recent preparatory meeting in Washington ahead of the summit, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and National Security Council Senior Director for Asia Jeffrey Bader told Asean ambassadors that Clinton's statement in Hanoi was already earning dividends, with China "clearly moved back to a more collaborative approach," according to confidential report obtained by AP.

The US officials were quoted in the report as saying that in a recent meeting in China, both sides discussed how claimants were expected to behave in the disputed region. They assured Chinese officials that Clinton's remarks in Hanoi did not seek to single out China but were addressed to all claimant countries.

Clinton's statement in July came after Beijing told visiting Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in March the South China Sea was now considered one of China's "core interests," alongside Taiwan and Tibet.irrawaddy.org

Asean will 'Stand as a Block' in Sea Dispute
FOSTER KLUG
September 24, 2010


Motorboats anchor at a partially submerged island in the South China Sea.
(PHOTO: Reuters)

NEW YORK—The president of the Philippines said on Thursday that Southeast Asian nations will be unified should China use its weight as a regional superpower in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Benigno Aquino III, speaking a day ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama and leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) that will focus on territorial spats with China, said Beijing has so far not tried to "push us around."

But, he said after a speech on the sidelines of a United Nations global summit, "in case that happens, I think Asean has demonstrated that we will stand as a block."

In a reference to China, he said: "Hopefully, we don't hear the phrase 'South China Sea' with reference to it being their sea."

Aquino, the son of democracy icons, also praised the Obama administration's attempts to strengthen its role in the region, saying the United States has shown a willingness to make its military presence felt.

The Philippines has said it plans a major renovation of an airport on an island it occupies in the contentious Spratly chain in the South China Sea. China and other nations also claim all or parts of the island group.

According to a draft communiqué, Obama and Southeast Asian leaders will call for the peaceful settlement of South China Sea territorial disputes and urge claimants not to resort to force.

Beijing was furious after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a regional security forum in Vietnam in July that the peaceful resolution of disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island groups was an American national interest. Beijing said Washington was interfering in an Asian regional issue.

The US worries the disputes could hurt access to one of the world's busiest commercial sea lanes.

China claims all of the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have also laid territorial claims. Aside from rich fishing areas, the region is believed to have huge oil and natural gas deposits. The contested islands straddle busy sea lanes that are a crucial conduit for oil and other resources fueling China's fast-expanding economy.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Thursday that the United States supports the principle of freedom of navigation in the region.

irrawaddy.org

Burma Keeps Low Profile as US Seeks to Rally Asean on China
WILLIAM BOOT
Saturday, September 25, 2010

Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), including Burma, are quietly concerned about attempts by the US government to raise the profile of a low-simmering dispute with China over ownership of several rocky islets, an official said.

The islands, in the South China Sea, are uninhabitable but offer the prospect of oil and gas riches.

President Barack Obama raised the issue at a meeting with Asean leaders in New York on Friday in a bid to get them to sign a statement calling for a peaceful resolution of offshore territorial disputes in the South China Sea to ensure trouble-free maritime movement.

China has protested that the US is interfering in its internal affairs.

Asean members Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are in dispute with China over the islands, which offer access to potentially large reserves of oil and gas to whoever secures territorial rights.

“Asean doesn’t really want Washington in this one and although Burma is not directly involved in the dispute, it’s doubtful if the Burmese would sign a statement criticizing China,” said a diplomat at Western embassy in Bangkok, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Asean leaders are in New York primarily for sessions of the UN General Assembly, where China is a stout protector of Burma.

Burma’s junta leader Snr-Gen Than Swe is not in New York. The country is represented by Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

The Obama-Asean meeting shows Washington’s new interest in Southeast Asia because of concerns about China’s rising influence there, said another expert.

“The United States recognizes that it must strengthen its security and political ties with Asean and invest in supporting Asean’s self-defined goals to firm up its foundation through economic, political and socioeconomic integration,” said Ernest Bower, director of the South East Asia Program with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

irrawaddy.org

FMs address South China Sea, Myanmar issues
Abdul Khalik and Andi Haswidi
Sat, 01/15/2011

Indonesia is attempting to lead ASEAN to solve the region’s two most high-profile political and security issues — democracy in Myanmar and the overlapping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea — during its chairmanship this year.

As foreign ministers of the 10-member grouping kick off their three-day retreat here Saturday, the dispute around the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea and democracy in Myanmar will draw most of their attention.

Foreign Ministry’s director general for ASEAN affairs Djauhari Oratmangun said Indonesia was also keen to play a role as a broker in finding solutions to disputes in the South China Sea, one of the world’s key hotspot that has become a stage for China and the US to showcase their power in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the Lombok meeting, the ASEAN working group on the South China Sea would report to ASEAN senior officials on the results of its meeting with the Chinese delegation in Kunming, China, last December. China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have sovereignty claims in the resource-rich territory, while Indonesia does not.

While many expected the China-ASEAN meeting on the South China Sea to settle the problems, officials expressed pessimism about the mid-level meeting, which they said did not have the capacity to solve such a big issue.

The working group, in fact, only worked to clarify guidelines within the so-called declaration of codes of conduct (DOC) on the South China Sea that has existed for years.

“We haven’t agreed on the guidelines as there are still differences between China and ASEAN on the perceptions of the goals of the meeting. Actually, we are still trying to close that gap and creating guidelines, which can evolve into codes of conduct that can be used to keep the area peaceful,” Djauhari said Friday.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said earlier that under Indonesia’s chairmanship, dialogue between ASEAN and China on the dispute would continue, with the hope that all parties could develop codes of conduct on how to jointly manage the area and settle the problem of claims to the sea.

“However, in the final analysis, it is the claimant states themselves that have to solve the claims problem bilaterally in accordance with international law,” Marty said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win is scheduled to brief ASEAN counterparts on the country’s progress in executing its roadmap to democracy after it completed its general elections to elect members of parliament late last year.

Indonesian diplomats said the Myanmar issue was nearly resolved as no matter how deficient the process, the country had conducted a general election and Indonesia hoped the issue could be resolved during its chairmanship this year.

“ASEAN wants to declare the Myanmar issue settled once and for all this year. But first Myanmar must form a government that is inclusive based on their own constitution, which specifies that anyone can hold a position within the government, including those that did not join the election,” the ministry’s director for ASEAN political and security affairs Ade Padmo Sarwano said Friday.

thejakartapost.com

Vietnam Seeks Urgent Correction On Map World
January 27, 2011

HANOI, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- Vietnam protests that China on Jan 18 provided Map World service, in which the nine-segment claim line on the East Sea continues to be present, and requests China to remove the incorrect data immediately, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

"The Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping officially providing the "Map World" online service, with a map in which the nine-segment claim line on the East Sea is present, violates Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos," said Nguyen Phuong Nga, a spokesperson for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, in response to reporters' questions on Vietnam's reaction.

The act also violates sovereignty right and jurisdiction over the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam and East Sea-rim countries and completely runs counter to regulations of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), she said on Wednesday.

"Vietnam protests China's act and asks China to immediately remove incorrect information on the above-mentioned map," she said.

bernama.com

Philippines protests China's Spratly claim
14/04/2011

The Philippines said Thursday it had lodged a formal protest at the United Nations over China's claims to the Spratly islands and adjacent South China Sea waters.


File photo shows Philippine Air Force personnel preparing to land a reconaissance aircraft in the Philippine-occupied Spratly islands. The Philippines said Thursday it had lodged a formal protest at the United Nations over China's claims to the disputed island network and adjacent South China Sea waters.

The newest controversy in the decades-old multilateral dispute centres on formal notes sent by China to the UN secretary general in 2009 outlining the basis of its claim, foreign ministry spokesman Ed Malaya said.

"Yes, we can confirm that the Philippines filed a note with the UN expressing its position on the nine-dotted line," he told AFP, referring to a map attached to the Chinese letter that delineated China's claim.

The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, claim all or part of the Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast mineral resources.

Manila last month complained that Chinese patrol boats inappropriately harassed a Philippine oil exploration vessel in disputed waters near the Spratlys.

The Philippines later announced plans to pursue oil exploration in the South China Sea and to upgrade a military airfield on Thitu island.

Thitu is the largest of the seven Spratly islands that the Philippines occupies. The Philippines claims more than 50 islands in the archipelago.

China has recently reiterated its exclusive claims to all the disputed areas and their adjacent waters, much of which is closer to Philippine land than Chinese.

A copy of the protest sent by the Philippines to the UN on April 5 and seen by AFP on Thursday said the Chinese notes were in reaction to Vietnam and Malaysia's own letters to the UN outlining their rival claims.

The protest said the Philippine-claimed section of the Spratlys, which Manila calls the Kalayaan island group, was an integral part of the Philippines.

"The claim (by China)... outside of the aforementioned geological features of the (Kalayaan island group) and their 'adjacent waters' would have no basis under international law, specifically UNCLOS," it said.

The term refers to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, on which the Philippines says its Spratly claim is based.

bangkokpost.com