South China Seas

[American Patriot]

China thinks they are playing a huge game of Risk.

Rolling the dice, expanding their reach a little here, a little there....

Edit- Just found this, thought I'd add it right here to this message:

Drip by drip, China dominates its oceanic backyard

Favoring cruise ships and hastily erected cities over all-out war

Patrick WinnJuly 24, 2012 05:41Subscribe to Patrick Winn on Facebook

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This picture taken by Vietnam News Agency and released on June 14, 2011 shows Vietnamese sailors patrolling on Phan Vinh Island in the Spratly archipelago. Vietnam put on a show of military strength in the tense South China Sea on June 13, risking the ire of Beijing in the face of a deepening maritime rift with its powerful neighbor. (Vietnam News Agency/Getty Images)

Perhaps China, in the end, will have asserted its dominance over the South China Sea one cruise ship, military outpost and hastily assembled city at a time.


Armed skirmishes are appearing increasingly unlikely in the oil-rich oceanic zone. Varied parts of the region are defiantly claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and others. Almost all of it is claimed by China.


In lieu of heavy conflict, China is patiently channeling its abundant resources into building a presence on these unpopulated specks of land bit by bit.


First, we have China announcing plans this week to erect a (likely small) military garrison in an island chain known as the Paracels that is largely claimed by Vietnam, the BBC reports. This outpost will defend a "city" called Sansha that, until last month, didn't even exist.


Today, the Philippine Star reports that China will construct an air strip on an island in the Subi Reef claimed by the Philippines. The island is already home to several Chinese-built structures and a large radar, the paper reports.


The Chinese are also indulging in a bit of surf-and-sand statecraft. In the government-owned outlet Xinhua, officials are playing up the disputed Xisha Islands as equal in beauty Thailand's beaches and promising to bring in cruise ships. Chinese holidaymakers will have to sleep on the boat, however, as the islands are almost totally barren.


Make no mistake: in an all-out battle, China's navy would almost certainly crush the Vietnamese or Philippine navies.


But why waste men, torpedoes and national reputation on humiliating weaker enemies through force?


It appears China has a wiser plan. The government is content to use its comparative economic might to gradually build a presence on these South China Sea islands.


Eventually, the Philippines and Vietnam may be in the undesirable position of claiming islands filled Chinese troops, Chinese buildings and Chinese resorts are, somehow, not Chinese.

[American Patriot]

McCain warns China over move on dispute islands
(AFP) – 23 hours ago



WASHINGTON — US Senator John McCain warned Tuesday that China was "unnecessarily provocative" in saying it will establish a military garrison on disputed South China Sea islands, and called for a multilateral solution to the dispute.


Beijing announced Monday its troops will operate from Sansha in the Paracel Islands, one of two archipelagos in the South China Sea that are claimed by both China and Vietnam. The move is likely to stoke further tensions in the region.


"The decision by China's Central Military Commission to deploy troops to islands in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Vietnam, is unnecessarily provocative," the Republican McCain said in a statement.


He said other action by China including its appointment of legislators to govern such disputes "only reinforces why many Asian countries are increasingly concerned about China's expansive territorial claims, which have no basis in international law, and the possibility that China will attempt to impose those claims through intimidation and coercion."


The actions by Beijing "are disappointing and not befitting a responsible great power," he said.


"We must continue to urge all parties with territorial claims in the South China Sea to seek a peaceful, multilateral resolution that is based on international law."


Beijing did not say when the garrison would be established.


Disputes have flared in recent weeks, with Vietnam and the Philippines criticizing what they call Chinese encroachment.

[American Patriot]

China’s claim in South China Sea illegitimate

By
The Washington Times

Tuesday, July 24, 2012







China’s outrageous claim of sovereignty over the whole of the South China Sea and plans to back it up with force reveal the threat of a new world order under China (“Inside China:Armed Fisherman” (Web, July 18).


The majority of the South China Sea and the islands in it, including especially the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Reef, are contiguous to other nations.


For China to claim sovereignty over such an area, containing a fifth of the world’s sea lanes, is a direct challenge to freedom of the seas and international order among nations. Americans have shed blood in the region over the past 70 years, earning us a say over international law and order in that area. China’s actions mock that sacrifice.


If China intends to back up their baseless claim with force, then one must shudder to think of life in any new world order under China.


D.A. SAMS
West Jefferson, Ohio

[American Patriot]

McCain calls Chinese moves on disputed islands 'unnecessarily provocative'

By Julian Pecquet - 07/24/12 12:24 PM ET
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Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Tuesday called recent moves by China to assert control over disputed islands in the South China Sea “unnecessarily provocative.”


The statement comes after China over the weekend elected 45 legislators to govern over the Spratlys, the Paracels and the Macclesfield Bank, which are also claimed by Vietnam. On Sunday, China also approved the deployment of soldiers to guard the islands.


“The decision by China’s Central Military Commission to deploy troops to islands in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Vietnam, is unnecessarily provocative,” McCain said. “Similarly, China’s appointment of legislators to govern all of the islands and waters that China claims in the South China Sea only reinforces why many Asian countries are increasingly concerned about China’s expansive territorial claims, which have no basis in international law, and the possibility that China will attempt to impose those claims through intimidation and coercion.”








The heightened tensions come as the Obama administration has called for a foreign policy “pivot” toward Asia, sparked in part by China's more aggressive stance.

“China’s actions in this case are disappointing and not befitting a responsible great power,” McCain said. “We must continue to urge all parties with territorial claims in the South China Sea to seek a peaceful, multilateral resolution that is based on international law and upholds the principle of freedom of navigation in international waters.”

[American Patriot]

Manila protests Beijing’s plan to deploy military garrison in West Philippine Sea

By Fat Reyes
INQUIRER.net 2:46 pm | Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
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DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO



MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said the country has filed a protest over China’s reported plan to deploy a military garrison on a group of disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“The Philippine government has expressed its grave concern and registered its strong protest over the Chinese government decision to establish a military garrison on Woody Reef,” Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesman, said in an interview with reporters.


DFA’s move came a day after Beijing announced it would establish a military garrison on a group of disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea, which will most likely provoke further tensions with its neighbors.
The troops will operate from Sansha in the Paracel Islands, one of two archipelagos in the West Philippine Sea that are claimed by both China and Vietnam.


The garrison, approved by the Central Military Commission, “will be responsible for the Sansha area national defense mobilization and reserve forces activities,” the defense ministry said on its website.
The ministry did not say when the garrison would be established, but the move to station troops on the Paracels is likely to provoke Hanoi’s ire.


Hernandez said that the said move by the Chinese move was a violation of the existing principles of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, or DOC.


“We hope that China, as a responsible country, will exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability in the region,” Hernandez said.


“DOC states that parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, and other features and to handle these differences in a constructive manner,” Hernandez said.


The Philippines earlier filed a protest over China’s establishment of Sansha City based on its position that the Kalayaan Island Group was an integral part of Philippine national territory under the municipality of Kalayaan of the province of Palawan.


“For this reason, the Philippines does not recognize Sansha City and the extent of its jurisdiction, and considers recent measures taken by China as unacceptable,” Hernandez said.


Hernandez said that the protest was the 12th since the start of the stand-off between the Philippines and China over the Scarborough Shoal in April. He said that the protest was handed over to Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing Tuesday morning.


Hernandez said that the country also filed a protest over China’s deployment of 29 fishing vessels, a cargo vessel, and two maritime ships near Kagitingan Reef and a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ship with bow number 934 near Zamora reef, and described the Chinese actions as “intrusions,” and “measures to protect power over our Kalayaan Island Group.”


“The use of armed government vessels to escort fishing vessels that conduct non-fishing activities is a violation of Philippine territory and a violation of obligation of states under international law including United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).


Hernandez maintained that Kagitingan Reef and Zamora Reef were within the Kalayaan Island Group and formed integral parts of the country’s territory.


He added that the diplomatic protests were filed based on reports from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), which he said had been monitoring the activities in the area.


The Philippine Daily Inquirer had earlier reported that China last week sent its biggest fishing expedition in recent years to the disputed Spratly islands to assert its economic dominance on the entire West Philippine Sea, parts of which are claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.


When pressed by reporters on why the country was only limiting itself to resorting to diplomatic protests, which they said was seemingly ignored by China, Hernandez said that they wanted to address the issue in a “peaceful, diplomatic and legal matter.”


“You know the protests are very important even though they don’t immediately reap benefits for us because that way we are able to tell the world that we don’t accept such activities done by the other side on our territory and on the maritime domain that we should be enjoying given international law and given provisions of Unclos,” Hernandez said.


Hernandez said that they had been asking China to respect the Philippines’ sovereignty rights in areas in Scarborough Shoal and other features in the West Philippine sea and that they would continue to file protests for as long as there are violations.


He added that they would continue their three-track political, diplomatic and legal approaches in handling the dispute. He said part of these was their efforts in trying to get the support of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to be able to resolve the issue.


Asean on Friday released a statement detailing the six-point principles and their unified stand on certain aspects of West Philippine Sea disputes, including a restated agreement to solve them peacefully.


The statement came after vigorous lobbying by Indian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.


A July 13 meeting of the Association of Southeast Nations broke up without a joint statement for the first time in 45 years because members could not agree on how to refer to China’s behavior in the disputed waters. The countries are drafting a “code of conduct” to try to overcome the rift.


When asked about how Filipino citizens could help in the issue, Hernandez said that he supported President Benigno Aquino III’s call for the country to have “one voice” over the issue.


“The President was saying there are so many voices in our society. We don’t have one voice and we should have a united voice so that it could be heard not only by China but by the International Community as well,” Hernandez said.

[American Patriot]

• OPINION ASIA
• July 30, 2012, 12:20 p.m. ET

Beijing Crosses a Line

The PLA's garrison in the South China Sea could further inflame tensions.

By MICHAEL AUSLINBy unilaterally creating a prefectural-level city government and installing a military garrison on a disputed island in the South China Sea, Beijing has further inflamed tensions and made a negotiated settlement to the region's territorial disputes less likely. In particular, the decision to emphasize military measures in this ongoing diplomatic quarrel should worry those who argued that the growth of China's military power in recent decades was non-threatening and the natural action of a rising power.
The credibility of the Obama Administration's "pivot" to China is being tested, and Washington must decide how to respond to Beijing's growing assertiveness. To simply leave far weaker neighboring states to face China alone risks surrendering our influence in Asia and possibly making conflict more likely.
Beijing's action puts the Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands and Macclesfield Bank under the control of a new city called Sansha, along with a mayor and 45 deputies sitting in a People's Congress. While there are approximately 1,100 Chinese citizens living on these islands, they are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. China has steadfastly refused to have these competing claims addressed in a multilateral setting, such as through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Indeed, after their most recent meeting, Asean ministers failed to issue a joint communiqué on South China Sea issues for the first time in nearly half a century. This was the result of Cambodia's sensitivity to Beijing's demand that any territorial disputes be solved on a solely bilateral basis.
While all claimants in the South China Sea have minor military outposts on many of their islands, Beijing's announcement that it is creating a new garrison commanded by two senior officers presents a further challenge to those looking for a diplomatic solution. Woody Island, the site of the new garrison, is claimed by Vietnam as well, and tensions between Beijing and Hanoi have reached new heights in recent months over Vietnamese moves to explore the oil-rich seabed off its coast. It is not yet known how big the military garrison will be, nor whether it will contain combat troops.
Woody Island is barely big enough for an airstrip, a manmade feature that Taiwan and the Philippines have built on two of the Spratly Islands. While the Philippines and Vietnam occupy more islands in the Spratlys, it is nonetheless significant when China makes a public announcement that it will have a permanent forward-deployed military force within striking distance of such contested waters. From the perspective even of smaller nations that have a few soldiers on coral reefs, Beijing is the only nation in Asia that could turn the clock back to old rules of international behavior, where might makes right, and international law is irrelevant to those bold enough to challenge fortune and ignore the concerns of the international community.
At another level, Beijing's moves last week seem to confirm the fears of some who worried about how China would act once it became strong enough to challenge other states in Asia. Would economic growth, military strength and political influence lead to a China more confident in its standing and therefore more willing to submit itself to norms of international behavior, or would it simply allow Beijing to double down on its outsized territorial claims?
Yet if Beijing thought that its new garrison would lead other nations to roll over, it has miscalculated, at least for the moment. The Philippines has indicated no willingness to back down, and President Benigno Aquino said he will purchase new attack helicopters and surface ships in order to defend its claims. Vietnam has sought new partners, including the United States, with which it held its first naval exercises earlier this year. The danger of course is that such attempts to maintain a credible defensive posture will lead to a heightened risk of conflict, either accidental or deliberate.
Much of this ardor may cool in coming decades as Hanoi and Manila look at China's long-term staying power, and realize they are no match for it militarily. It is not impossible to imagine that public opinion would tire of the constant tension and demand the recall of the tiny forces on territory far away. That would leave China a freer hand to press other claims, on resource exploration and exploitation, for example, and perhaps even on freedom of navigation for ships in waters claimed as historically Chinese.
Perhaps Beijing will not exploit its position that much. Yet the hardening of positions in the South China Sea is a problem for Washington, given its much vaunted "rebalancing" to Asia. The State Department has so far shown no inclination even to change its rhetoric in the face of China's actions, simply reiterating that a mutually cooperative diplomacy must solve what has now become even more of a machtpolitik challenge. Continuing such a stance, while China increases its troops in the South China Sea, will serve only to erode American credibility in Asia.
As a first step, Washington should threaten to cut off military-to-military dialogue until it gets answers on how large the garrison will be. If China increases the size of its garrison and further intimidates its neighbors, the U.S. should consider postponing future annual Security and Economic Dialogues, which so far have produced little except press releases. Third, Washington should come up with a concrete plan to provide enhanced intelligence and military aid to nations threatened by China's military presence.
At best, these moves might force Beijing to realize that a truly negotiated settlement is the only way forward. At a minimum, they would show America recognizes the way China is attempting to unilaterally shape the future of the world's most important waterway.

[American Patriot]

30 Jul, 2012, 12.31PM IST, PTI
China commissions patrol ship to protect 'marine sovereignty'

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China has launched its largest and "most advanced" patrol vessel as part of its efforts to assert "marine sovereignty" amid escalating disputes with neighbouring countries over a host of islands in the South China Sea.





<a target="_blank" href="http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/clickthrough?slotid=37105"><img alt="Advertisement" height="71" width="640" border="0" src="http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/photoserv?slotid=37105"></a> BEIJING: China has launched its largest and "most advanced" patrol vessel as part of its efforts to assert "marine sovereignty" amid escalating disputes with neighbouring countries over a host of islands in the South China Sea.

The new vessels Haixun 01 was launched from Wuhan, Hubei province, last weekend.

The new flagship is the first patrol vessel capable of completing both maritime surveillance and rescue missions, the Shanghai Maritime Bureau (SMB), which will manage the ship said.

"It is part of stepped up efforts by China to protect its marine sovereignty and enhance rescue efficiency on its coastal waters," state-run China Daily reported today.

The new vessel would cruise in "China's territorial waters", searching and saving lives at sea, investigating maritime disputes, monitoring oil spills and conducting emergency disposals, SMB said in a statement.

The 5,418-ton ship can also tow ships and put out fires on other boats. It can sail at speed of 37 km per hour, and has a maximum sailing distance of 18,520 km without refueling.

Helicopters can take off and land on platforms on board to get refuelled or execute life-saving and searching tasks, The ship can provide accommodation to as many as 200 people in sea accidents.

In the last few weeks China has taken certain decisive steps like establishing a new city called Sansha on Yongxing Island, part of which also claimed by Vietnam.

Beijing also established a military garrison there, sending a strong signal about its intention to assert its claims over the islands.

China claims control over most of the South China Sea, portions of which are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and other neighbours.

"The new move sent a strong signal to the outside world that China is attempting to conduct more surveillance in its own waters," Ni Lexiong, an expert on maritime policy at Shanghai University said.

The move shows China is taking action to protect its legal rights as the number of sea disputes with other countries has surged recently, he said.

"In the past, the patrol fleet, ocean inspection fleet and fishery administration fleet have been mainly comprised of old vessels decommissioned from the navy, but now we see more and more brand-new advanced ships being made and put into use," he said.

China has about 300 marine surveillance ships, including 30 ships weighing more than 1,000 tons, and 10 planes, including four helicopters, to monitor marine affairs.

Officials of China Marine Surveillance, the country's marine supervisory administration, said China is expected to build 36 inspection ships to join the surveillance fleet by 2013.

[American Patriot]

South China Sea War Rumors Heat Up

July 29, 2012
By Vikas Shukla

China has decided to establish a military garrison in Sansha municipality of Yongxing island, which is 220 miles away from the southernmost part of mainland China. The South China Sea is an area of intense conflict where, China and five of its neighbors – Vietnam, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia claim various territories. They all want a piece of this oil rich region, but China claims the whole area to be its own.
Beijing cannot establish much military power there, because Yongxing is a small island with just over 1000 people, and it doesn’t even have sufficient space to build airstrips. However, Chinese officials say that Sansha municipality will administer the hundreds of miles of its surrounding sea to maintain China’s control over the disputed area.
There have been several sour incidences in the region. India’s biggest oil explorer ONGC Videsh Ltd. AKA Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (NSE:ONGC) (BOM:500312) has been exploring oil in collaboration with Vietnam in South China Sea. The Chinese authorities threatened Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (NSE:ONGC) (BOM:500312) to make them stop the exploration and back off from the sea, and once, the Chinese Navy also stopped an Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited ship to enter the region.
The Dilemma of America

Washington, which has been helping Southeast Asian countries to put a check on China’s rising military influence, is in a dilemma. If Obama’s administration criticizes Beijing too harshly, it may strain the relationship with the United States’ biggest trading partner. On the other hand, President Obama can’t play soft with China, as the presidential election is approaching. His opponent, Mitt Romney, has accused Obama many times for being weak on China, Romney also vowed he will get strict on China’s military and trading practices.
The USA’s national interest is to maintain peace and stability in The South China Sea, and it strongly states that the ASEAN countries should collectively negotiate the issue with China. The statement has tempered China, which claims control over the entire South China sea, and wants to negotiate the terms with each claimant individually without US intervention.
The Republican senator, John McCain, said, “The decision by China’s Central Military Commission to deploy troops to islands in the South China Sea, which are also claimed by Vietnam, is unnecessarily provocative. The move only reinforces why many Asian countries are increasingly concerned about China’s expansive territorial claims, which has no basis in international law, and the possibility that China will attempt to impose those claims through intimidation and coercion. The actions by Beijing are disappointing and not befitting a responsible great power. We must continue to urge all parties with territorial claims in the South China Sea to seek a peaceful, multilateral resolution that is based on international law.”
China hasn’t declared when it will be establishing the garrison.

[American Patriot]

S. China Seas to Top Clinton Agenda in China

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks during a meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, September 4, 2012.




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• Clinton Meets ASEAN Leaders About South China Sea
• US Looks to Singapore, Indonesia to Help Calm Tensions in S. China Sea

Shannon Van Sant
September 04, 2012



BEIJING — Contested territory in the South China Seas will be at the top of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's agenda in her talks with Chinese leaders this week. Ahead of her arrival Tuesday evening, China's Foreign Ministry referred to the conflict as an issue of national sovereignty.

The United States is urging China to hold talks with its neighbors about disputes over the South China Seas. Just hours before Clinton was due to meet with Chinese leaders, China’s Foreign Ministry said the United States should not take a stand on the issue.

Spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing that China noticed the U.S. side on many occasions said that it does not take a position on the South China Sea issue. He says China hopes the U.S. will honor its commitment and do more things that will promote regional peace and stability instead of the opposite.

The resource rich waterway is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and has been a source conflict among Asian nations. Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the ocean passage, while Beijing claims nearly the entire sea. Spokesperson Hong Lei says disagreements about the waterway are an issue of territorial sovereignty.



​​He says different countries have different understandings, concerns and focuses on the issue. He says, as far as China is concerned, the South China Sea issue concerns the territorial sovereignty dispute over some of the Nansha Islands and the overlapping of maritime rights and interests in some parts of the sea. Hong Lei says that, as in other countries in the world, China has the right to maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Clinton is pushing China to work with its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on a code of conduct for managing disputes in the region. Instead, Beijing has preferred to negotiate bilaterally with each of its neighbors. A Declaration of Conduct for the South China Seas was adopted in 2002, but China and its neighbors failed to agree on a code of conduct at the last summit of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations in July.

Hong Lei says China believes relevant parties should concretely abide by the pact, promote cooperation and build mutual trust, so as to maintain peace and stability of the South China Sea, instead of magnifying or complicating the issue. While abiding by and implementing the declaration, Hong Lei says the parties concerned can work towards formulating an agreement on the South China Seas. He says China hopes relevant countries will support the consensus and action of relevant ASEAN countries and China and do more things that benefit regional peace and stability.

U.S. Secretary of State Clinton is in the middle of a six-nation, 10-day tour of Asia, months after the Obama administration announced it would pivot attention and U.S. influence away from the Middle East and towards Asia and the Pacific. China’s dispute with Japan about islands in the East China Sea will also top Clinton’s agenda during her visit.

[American Patriot]

Guess it's not being covered, but Hillary is in China.

[American Patriot]

Taiwan Lawmakers Land on Disputed South China Sea Island



A boat of Taiwan's coast guard is seen off the Dongsha Island, on Wednesday July 23, 2008. Concrete pilings designed to prevent an invasion no longer dot this tiny Taiwanese islet's shoreline.




September 04, 2012

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A group of Taiwanese legislators landed on an islet in the hotly disputed South China Sea to inspect the level of coast guard protection for its claims in the Spratly archipelago. Because of its unique political status, Taiwan, normally keeps quiet about its claims to the resource-rich ocean.

A transport aircraft carrying about 30 people led by a group of lawmakers reached Taiping Island early Tuesday.

Taiwan’s coast guard, which protects the tiny coral island, matched the legislative visit with a series of live-fire exercises using more than 140 grenades, mortars and machine guns. Group leader and legislator Lin Yu-fang led a group to the same islet in April and found defenses to be inadequate.

Lin told a news conference Taiwan can now defend the small islet.

He says that after the April visit he did not expect the level of defense for Taiping Island could be strengthened so fast. But based on his trip Tuesday, the lawmaker says, the coast guard looks ready to defend Taiwan’s southernmost piece of land.

On Saturday, Taiwan’s Interior Ministry said the top governmental security adviser had just visited Taiping Island. The government said later that day Taiwan wanted to be a peacemaker by sharing its experience in managing the islet that supports a hospital and an airstrip.

Taiwan adds that it is also willing to offer humanitarian aid and advice on global warming in the South China Sea. Taiping belongs to the Spratly Chain and is one of about 500 islets in the disputed ocean area.

The ocean area stretching from Taiwan to Singapore is also claimed, all or in part, by China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The expanse of 3.5-million square kilometers is believed to be rich in undersea oil or natural gas, and most claimants have launched explorations.

Competing claims have sparked naval clashes in other parts of the ocean, including deadly ones in 1974 and 1988, but few involving Taiwan. The South China Sea dispute has escalated this year with a long standoff between the Philippines and an increasingly aggressive China.

The United States has further irritated China, which is hungry for fish and oil, by asking that it cooperate more with the smaller claimants.

Taiwan cannot assert itself like other governments in the region. China claims not only the sea, but also Taiwan. Beijing bars its numerous diplomatic allies in Asia from discussing political matters with officials in Taipei.

Taiwan was unable to join when China met rival claimants earlier this year to discuss a South China Sea code of conduct, talks that ultimately collapsed.

On a visit to Asia this week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton again urged China and Southeast Asian nations to work out the code of conduct.

Vietnam has protested in the past over Taiwan’s visits to the South China Sea. But responses from rival claimants this week have been muted. Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Steve Hsia does not expect a major outcry.

He says that Taiwan’s activities on Taiping Island are legal. Because those moves are backed by law, he says, the Foreign Ministry does believe they will cause no regional anxiety among neighboring countries.

Political analysts in Taipei say foreign governments know they need not worry. They call the South China Sea visits a response to pressure at home for stronger foreign policy, especially as China grows more powerful. President Ma’s government has reduced tensions with China since taking office in 2008, but China has never renounced the use of force to assert its sovereignty over Taiwan.

[American Patriot]

Clinton to Push South China Sea Issue in Beijing Talks
Posted September 4th, 2012 at 8:40 am (UTC-4)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Beijing on the third stop of a regional tour aimed partly at urging China and its neighbors to agree on a system for resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Clinton wants Beijing to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, on a code of conduct for managing the disputes, in hopes of preventing continued flare-ups in the resource-rich region. Beijing, which claims nearly the entire sea, has resisted signing such a code. It instead prefers to deal individually with rival claimants, including Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Before leaving Indonesia for China Tuesday, Clinton said Southeast Asian nations must present a unified front in dealing with the disputes to “literally calm the waters.” She made her comments following meetings in Jakarta with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

Clinton will hold two days of talks with senior Chinese leaders, who have so far rejected U.S. involvement in the maritime disputes. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei warned against U.S. “interference” at a regular news conference Tuesday.

“We have noticed the United States has said many times that it will not hold a position on the South China Sea issue. We hope they can keep their promises and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability, not the opposite.”

Chinese state media also unleashed a series of attacks on U.S. policy in the Asia-Pacific on Tuesday. The Global Times, a Communist party newspaper, warned that Washington has caused friction between China and its neighbors, while the Xinhua news agency accused Washington of being a “sneaky trouble maker.”

Ralph Cossa, a security analyst at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum, tells VOA there is little chance of an all-out armed conflict between China and any of its rival claimants. But, he also says Clinton is unlikely to make any substantial progress on a code of conduct during her China visit.

“I am very pessimistic that a meaningful code of conduct will be established. There may at some point be something that's called a 'code,' but I doubt that it will have any verification or enforcement mechanisms. And, without that, it will be just another piece of paper that people will violate.”

Washington has said it does not take sides in the sea disputes, but has been critical about China's increasingly assertive maritime claims. On Monday, Clinton did not criticize China directly, but said “no party should take any steps that would increase tensions or do anything that would be viewed as coercive or intimidating.”

Clinton is in the middle of a six-nation Asian tour, her third to the region since May, as she helps implement Washington's strategic “pivot” toward the Pacific. It could be her last visit to China as secretary of state, as she has said she plans to step down after serving under President Obama during his first term in office.

Clinton's talks in China also are expected to be focused on human rights, as well as several other international issues, including the Syrian crisis and the Iranian nuclear program. Her last visit to China was overshadowed by the plight of Chinese dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who took refuge in the U.S. embassy and later fled to the United States after reporting abuses while under house arrest in China.

[American Patriot]

Tensions with Japan Increase as China Sends Patrol Boats to Disputed Islands

By Austin Ramzy | @austinramzy | September 14, 2012 | 14




Zhang Jiansong / Xin Hua / Reuters


Crew members of China's surveillance ship Haijian 50 take pictures as they sail on waters near the disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea on Sept. 14, 2012.




The standoff between China and Japan over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea continues to escalate, raising fears that the world’s second and third largest economies could stumble into armed conflict. On Friday, six Chinese patrol boats approached the Japanese-controlled islands, which are called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese. That was four more China Maritime Surveillance vessels than China had previously acknowledged dispatching to the islands northeast of Taiwan. “It is deplorable that the invasion of the territorial waters happened at this time and we strongly request that the Chinese authorities leave our territory,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters Friday morning.


On Friday China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the patrol as a “rights defense law enforcement action, to reflect the Chinese government’s jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests.” China was infuriated by the Japanese government’s purchase last week of three of the five islands for $26 million from a Japanese family that has claimed ownership to them for decades. China called the move illegal and a violation of Chinese sovereignty. Taiwan, which also claims the Diaoyu, accused Japan of infringing on its territory.


On Friday afternoon Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported that all six of the Chinese ships had left the waters surrounding the islands, bringing a temporary easing of the dispute. But concerns remain over the potential for a clash or even an accidental collision that could see risk of fighting between the two sides. “How serious is this? It’s bloody serious,” says Ian Storey, a senior fellow at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. “The Chinese are incensed by this, and it comes a particularly sensitive time.”


China’s ruling Communist Party has been preparing for this fall’s Communist Party congress, which is expected to see President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao begin handing over power. The man expected to take over Hu’s position, Vice President Xi Jinping, hasn’t been seen in public for nearly two weeks, fanning speculation about his health and political future. Confrontation with Japan doesn’t help the harmonious image the party wants to portray during the transition, but it has no incentive to compromise on an issue of sovereignty either. “In the run-up to the party congress certainly the government can’t be seen as being weak,” says Storey. “The response would be a nationalist backlash.” At the same time, the conflict with Japan has helped draw domestic attention from questions about China’s leadership, and a robust response helps boost the Communist Party’s legitimacy. “Since the 1990s … nationalism has replaced Communism as the justification for the one-party state, which requires stirring up anti-Western – above all, anti-Japanese – sentiment,” Ian Buruma, an author and professor at Bard College, wrote in Friday’s South China Morning Post. “This is never difficult in China, given the painful past, and it usefully deflects public attention from the failings and frustrations of living in a dictatorship.”


Anti-Japanese protests have erupted in several Chinese cities in recent weeks. On Aug. 27 a man ripped the Japanese flag from a car carrying the Japanese ambassador while it was stopped behind two vehicles in Beijing. While the rallies have remained small and closely monitored by police, there is a history of such demonstrations turning violent, as when hundreds of rioters threw rocks and smashed windows at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing in 2005. On Friday Japan repeated a warning to its citizens in China to pay attention to their personal safety, and listed six cases of Japanese being harassed or assaulted because of their nationality, including one person who had noodles dumped on them.
Unlike Chinese disputes with some of its Southeast Asian neighbors over South China Sea claims, the Diaoyu conflict carries the added weight of Imperial Japan’s brutal wartime occupation of China. The Diaoyu Islands fell under Japanese control after the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, when Japan took over Taiwan and its surrounding islands. After World War II the U.S. administered the Diaoyu, returning them to Japanese administration in the 1970s. China argues the islands have long been recognized as its territory. Japan says the Diaoyu were no man’s land before 1895 and should be considered part of Okinawa. As with most disputes over islands in the western Pacific, the potential for undersea oil and gas reserves raises the stakes for all claimants. While the U.S. says it doesn’t take a position on the island’s sovereignty, it says that as they are administered by Japan they fall under the U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty, meaning the U.S. could be obligated to aid Japan in the event of an attack on them.


The last time tensions reached this level was in 2010, when Japan’s coast guard detained a Chinese fishing boat captain who rammed their vessels near the Diaoyu. But recent events have raised the animosity even higher. This spring Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that he wanted to purchase four of the islands from the Kurihara family. The family bought the islands in the 1970s from the descendants of a Japanese businessman who ran a fish processing plant there in the early 1900s. Japan’s central government, feeling that it would be less provocative to have the islands in its possession than under the control of the aggressively nationalist Ishihara, bought them instead. But the distinction has made little difference to China. In mid-August a group 14 Chinese activists sailed from Hong Kong and landed on the Diaoyu, where they were detained by Japanese authorities and returned. Days later a group of Japanese nationalists made their own trip to the Diaoyu, which set off protests in several Chinese cities.


After Japan confirmed it had purchased the islands, China reported a series of Diaoyu baselines—land points from which maritime claims are delineated—to the U.N. That puts China in the position of having to defend those claims. “The baseline announcement implies that China needs to follow it up with actions,” says Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, the North East Asia director for the International Crisis Group, an ngo that seeks to prevent armed conflict. “The presence of Chinese law enforcement vessels in the area will increase the chances that the Japanese coast guard feels it needs to respond. If there is an incident it will be extremely difficult to walk back given the current state of diplomatic relations, the delicate Chinese transition and the high-pitched nationalist sentiment in China.” That sentiment will only increase in the coming days. September 18 is the 81^st anniversary of the Mukden Incident, which saw the launch of a broad Japanese invasion of Manchuria. It 2010 the anniversary, coming shortly after the detention of the Chinese fishing boat captain, triggered broad protest in China, and it likely will again this year.


Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/09/14/ten...#ixzz26UGQKS27

[vector7]

Chinese media warns of war with Philippines

China warned its citizens in the Philippines to "stay indoors" on Thursday as its state media warned of war over a month-long dispute in the South China Sea

By Damien McElroy
8:55PM BST 10 May 2012



Territorial rivalry has escalated throughout the seas around China as regional and international navies seek to establish rights of passage against an expanding Chinese presence.

Chinese and Philippine vessels have been locked in a high seas stand-off since the PLA Navy prevented a Philippine warship from arresting crews of Chinese fishing boats near the Scarborough Shoal on April 8.

Both countries claim the fish rich shoal as their own and protests by Philippine fishermen over their loss of livelihood have drawn mass support in the south-east Asian country.

China International Travel Service, the state-owned tourism operator, yesterday suspended ties with the Philippines after organisers announced plans to demonstrate outside Chinese embassy buildings and property today.

Beijing also issued a travel advisory warning its citizens to keep a low profile. "Avoid going out at all if possible, and if not, to avoid going out alone," it said. "If you come across any demonstrations, leave the area, do not stay to watch."

Reports in Japan said five Chinese warships – including two guided missile destroyers, two frigates and a amphibious landing ship – had passed through waters close to Okinawa moving to Philippine reefs.

As the dispute escalated, Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, met senators in a push to ratify a treaty that would bolster legal backing for US naval patrols in dispute regions such as the South China Sea.

Seizing on warnings of the dangers of escalating "gunboat diplomacy" Mr Panetta called on the senate to ratify the Laws of the Sea, a UN treaty that has been hindered by procedural disputes.

"By moving off the sidelines and leading the discussion, we would be able to influence those treaty bodies that develop and interpret the Law of the Sea," he said. "In that way, we would ensure that our rights are not whittled away by the excessive claims and erroneous interpretations of others."

American officials also announced the deployment of Littoral Combat Ships, a new generation of vessels that would allow the US much more extensive coverage of Asian sea lanes including the Strait of Malacca, as well as areas disputed by China.

The first of the shallow-draft ships, Freedom would be deployed to operate from Singapore for 10 months.

[American Patriot]

China warned its citizens in the Philippines to "stay indoors" on Thursday as its state media warned of war over a month-long dispute in the South China Sea

The first of the shallow-draft ships, Freedom would be deployed to operate from Singapore for 10 months.

Too little, too late?

[American Patriot]

Seizing on warnings of the dangers of escalating "gunboat diplomacy" Mr Panetta called on the senate to ratify the Laws of the Sea, a UN treaty that has been hindered by procedu

Another Leftist BS thing... of COURSE he "seized" on the alleged dangers to "pass another law/treaty" - especially something with the UN.... grrrr

[American Patriot]

India Vows to Protect S. China Sea Interests








Anjana Pasricha
December 04, 2012

NEW DELHI — As India vows to protect its interests in the South China Sea, China has reiterated that it has indisputable sovereignty of the islands and the surrounding waters. India is not directly involved in the disputes over the South China Sea, but has begun gas exploration in the waters which China claims.

Navy Chief Admiral, D.K. Joshi made the assertion that India will not back off from protecting its maritime and economic interests.

Joshi said Monday that although India is not a territorial claimant to the South China Sea, it will deploy naval vessels there as necessary. India’s state-run oil agency, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has a stake in a portion of the sea which Vietnam says is its exclusive economic zone.

"Not that we expect to be in those waters very, very frequently, but when the requirement is there, for example, in situations where our country's interests are involved, for example ONGC, ONGC Videsh, etc., we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that," the admiral said. "Now, are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is yes."

Asked what Beijing would do if the Indian Navy came to protect its oil interests in the South China Sea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stated that Beijing has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the sea and adjacent waters.

Hong said China opposes unilateral oil and gas development in the South China Sea, adding that he hopes concerned countries will respect China’s position and rights.

China, which claims much of the South China Sea’s waters and islands, has been locked in a series of disputes with East Asian countries like Vietnam and Philippines. Tensions have been escalating centered in, the resource-rich waters, with some analysts expressing fears of conflict .

In the past India, had been a largely passive observer to the growing tensions in the South China Sea.

But Indian analysts say that New Delhi has waded into the dispute by starting exploration in a Vietnamese gas field. New Delhi strategic affair analyst Bhaskar Roy said India wants to hold on to its presence in the South China Sea, which is rich in oil reserves.

“There have been indications, not direct but indirect, that Chinese would like to get us out of that," noted Roy. "Now we cannot just be picked up and thrown out. There is public interest in India on this issue: where are we going, are we giving up our sovereignty because of Chinese pressure. It also shows that we also have capabilities and also determination to protect our own interest.”

Indian officials say that the South China Sea region is key to its energy security. Half of the country’s imports and exports also go through the waters and New Delhi says it wants safety and security for international ships.

Some Indian analysts also say that, if China has a right to naval cooperation with neighboring countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean, India has a similar right in the South China Sea.

[American Patriot]

Vietnam state oil company says Chinese boats cut cables being laid by seismic survey vessel


By Chris Brummitt, The Associated Press December 3, 2012


HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's state-owned oil and gas company accused Chinese fishing boats on Monday of sabotaging one of its seismic survey ships in the South China Sea, adding to already high tensions over Beijing's disputed territorial claims in the waters.

PetroVietnam said two Chinese fishing boats cut across cables being laid by the survey vessel Binh Minh 2 off the coast of central Vietnam on Friday.

"PetroVietnam vehemently protests the Chinese fishing boats' action against the Binh Minh 2," Pham Viet Dung, the deputy head of exploration at the company, said in a statement on the company's website. "We ask that China educate its citizens to respect Vietnamese waters."

Chinese and Vietnamese Foreign Ministry officials had no immediate comment.

China claims most of the South China Sea, bringing it into conflict with its smaller neighbours. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim part of the waters, which are believed to be rich in gas and oil reserves as well as fish stocks. China, which is strengthening its navy, has been increasingly assertive in pressing its claims as its economy as grown in recent years.

It is the second time that Chinese fishing vessels have reportedly damaged the Vietnamese survey ship's cables. An incident in June last year off Vietnam's central coast triggered rare street protests in Hanoi.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the reported incident took place in contested waters. PetroVietnam said it occurred 43 miles (69 kilometres) from the small island of Con Co.

China recently issued new passports featuring a map showing its territorial claims in the South China Sea, angering Vietnam and the Philippines, which have refused to stamp the passports.

Vietnam has also protested a recent announcement by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. opening nine oil and gas lots for international bidders in areas overlapping with existing Vietnamese exploration blocks. Vietnam says the lots lie entirely within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vie...#ixzz2E79QuwbJ

[American Patriot]

Indian Navy will intervene in South China sea, if required

Reported by Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Edited by Abhinav Bhatt | Updated: December 03, 2012 20:03 IST
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Indian Navy will intervene in South China sea, if required

Naval warships form a line during an exercise in the waters of Bay of Bengal in Chennai January 24, 2010.
New Delhi: The Indian Navy is practicing to operate in the South China Sea to protect the country's economic assets.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Admiral D.K. Joshi said, "Where our country's interests are involved, we will protect them and we will intervene."

The Eastern Naval Command - which looks at India's eastern sea board and is likely to play a key role when the Navy is deployed in South China Sea - is also being strengthened.

China, which put its first aircraft carrier into service in September, has been locked in a series of disputes over strategic islands in the region, including with Vietnam and the Philippines over territory in the South China Sea.

The decision to use the Indian Navy in the region comes days after Chinese state media announced that the southern Hainan province, which administers the South China Sea, approved laws giving its police the right to search vessels that pass through the waters.

Also Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and India protested a map on a new Chinese passport that depicts disputed areas as belonging to China. The Philippines also issued a statement saying it wants Beijing to "clarify its reported plans to interdict ships that enter what it considers its territory in the South China Sea," the Associated Press reported over the weekend.

India signed a pact with Vietnam in October last year to expand oil exploration in the South China Sea.

Although Beijing has urged New Delhi not to push ahead with the project for the sake of "peace and stability", the Admiral said that the Indian Navy was ready to support state energy firm ONGC and had carried out exercises in preparation.

"In certain sectors ONGC Videsh has certain interests. It has energy exploration blocks, three in number, and since it is an area of Indian interests, the Indian Navy, should there be a need, would stand by," Admiral Joshi said referring to the firm's international subsidiary.

"If required we will intervene to protect (them)," he said and added that it is the navy's duty to protect India's sovereign assets.

Acknowledging the rapid modernisation of the Chinese navy, the navy chief said "It is actually a major cause of concern for us, which we continuously evaluate and work out our options and our strategies."

According to a report issued by the Pentagon in May, Beijing is pouring money into advanced air defences, submarines, anti-satellite weapons and anti-ship missiles that could all be used to deny an adversary access to strategic areas, such as the South China Sea.

[American Patriot]

A New Dispute Flares Over South China Sea
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: December 4, 2012


BEIJING — China and two of its neighbors, Vietnam and India, were locked in a new dispute on Tuesday over energy exploration in the South China Sea, a signal that Beijing plans to continue its hard line in the increasingly contentious waterway.


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Vietnam accused a Chinese fishing boat of cutting a seismic cable attached to one of its vessels exploring for oil and gas near the Gulf of Tonkin, an act apparently designed to inhibit Vietnam from pursuing energy deposits.

In retaliation, Vietnam said Tuesday that it would launch new patrols, which would include marine police, to guard against increasing encroachment by Chinese fishing boats in the South China Sea. India, which operates several joint ventures with Vietnam’s national energy company, Petro Vietnam, said it would consider sending Navy vessels to protect its interests in the South China Sea.

The latest episode follows an announcement by Hainan Province in southern China last week that Chinese vessels would board and search ships in contested areas of the waterway, which includes vital shipping lanes through which more than a third of global trade moves.

The new tensions among China, Vietnam and India illustrate in stark terms the competition in the South China Sea for what are believed to be sizable deposits of oil and gas.

Some energy experts in China see the sea as an important new energy frontier close to home that could make China less dependent on its huge oil imports from the Middle East.

On Monday, China’s National Energy Administration named the South China Sea as the main offshore site for natural gas production. Within two years, China aims to produce 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas fields in the sea, a significant increase from the 20 billion cubic meters produced so far, the agency said.

Earlier this year, China’s third-largest energy company, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company, launched new equipment that would allow China to drill in deep water for the first time. Since then, CNOOC, has been drilling with a rig in deep water in non-disputed waters off the southern coast of China.

The escalation in the South China Sea comes less than a month after Xi Jinping took office as China’s leader. Mr. Xi appears to have taken a particular interest in the South China Sea and the serious dispute between China and Japan over the islands known as Diaoyu in China and as Senkaku in Japan. Whether any of China’s most recent actions in the South China Sea were associated with Mr. Xi was not clear.

But Mr. Xi does lead a small group of policy makers clustered in the Maritime Rights Office, which serves to coordinate agencies within China, according to Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Peking University, and other Chinese experts. The unit is part of the office of the Foreign Affairs Leading Small Group, Mr. Zhu said. The leading small group, now headed by Mr. Xi, is widely believed to be China’s central policy-making group.

China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated on Tuesday that China opposed oil and gas development by other countries in disputed waters of the sea. China maintains that it has “undisputed” sovereignty over the South China Sea, and that only China is allowed to develop the energy resources.

“We hope that concerned countries respect China’s position and rights,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said.

Vietnam, which has long been wary of China but enjoys a relationship through its governing Communist Party, summoned the Chinese ambassador on Monday to protest the cutting of the seismic cable, the Vietnamese press reported.

A Web site run by Petro Vietnam, the oil company, reported that the company’s exploration vessel Binh Minh 02 had its seismic cable severed by a Chinese fishing vessel last Friday. In May 2011, the Vietnamese authorities said a similar cable of the Binh Minh 02 was cut by three Chinese surveillance ships, resulting in weeks of anti-China protests in Hanoi.

In its decree on the new patrols, Vietnam said that civilian ships, supported by marine police and a border force, would be deployed starting next month to stop foreign vessels that violate fishing laws in waters claimed by Vietnam.

A senior official in Petro Vietnam, Pham Viet Dung, was quoted in the Vietnamese press as saying that large numbers of Chinese fishing boats, many of them substantial vessels, had recently entered waters claimed by Vietnam. The fishing vessels interfered with the operations of the oil company, he said.

India, whose state run oil company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has a 45 percent interest in exploration with Petro Vietnam, also reacted strongly.

The head of the Indian Navy, Admiral D.K. Joshi, said that India was prepared to send navy vessels to protect its interests in the sea. “Now, are we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The short answer is ‘yes,’ ” Admiral Joshi told reporters in India.

The most recent moves by China in the South China Sea have not won total support at home. Mr. Zhu, the professor, said he did not believe that China had become more assertive in the South China Sea. But, he said: “The cable cutting is really unfriendly.”

Bree Feng contributed reporting.