Spratly Islands, Philippines

Asian war feared over Spratlys row

2011-06-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

Puerto Princesa—Longtime allies the Philippines and the United States launched naval exercises on Tuesday amid warnings that growing incidents at sea involving China could lead to war in Asia.

Two state-of-the-art US missile destroyers sailed into Philippine waters to kick-start the 11 days of training, being held in the wake of regional tensions caused by territorial rivalries in the West Philippine (South China) Sea.

The exercises, called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat), will actually take place in the Sulu Sea.

Both the Philippines and United States emphasized the training was an annual one aimed at strengthening defense ties, and not linked to the rising concern in Manila about allegedly aggressive Chinese actions in the potentially resource-rich Spratly Islands.

“Carat was planned in advance… the issue in the South China Sea started in February,” Philippine Navy vice commander Rear Adm. Orwen Corez said at the opening ceremony. “Carat has nothing to do with the issue.”

Nevertheless, the exercises were portrayed as a show of unity between the Philippines and its former colonial ruler.

‘Enduring commitment’

“The US and the Philippines are allies and that is the strongest and most enduring commitment the two nations can make,” the commander of the US 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, said.

“Our alliance is underpinned by a deep and abiding US interest in the freedom and security of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Buskirk stressed the exercise “has nothing to do with the Spratlys.”

He said it was the second such exercise held by the two allies “but this situation is more complex.” He did not elaborate.

Tuesday’s opening ceremony took place at a military base in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan province, a narrow island that divides the West Philippine Sea and the Sulu Sea.

About 800 US sailors are involved, as well as the two guided missile destroyers and a salvage ship. They will join a Philippine fleet of mainly World War II-era ships.

Risk-taking behaviour

As the exercises got underway, an Australian think tank warned risks were growing like incidents at sea involving China that could spark a war in Asia, potentially drawing in the United States and other powers.

The Lowy Institute said in a report that the Chinese military’s risk-taking behavior in the seas, along with the country’s resource needs and greater assertiveness, had raised the chances of an armed conflict.

“The sea lanes of Indo-Pacific Asia are becoming more crowded, contested and vulnerable to armed strife. Naval and air forces are being strengthened amid shifting balances of economic strategic weight,” authors Rory Medcalf and Raoul Heinrichs wrote.

“China’s frictions with the United States, Japan and India are likely to persist and intensify. As the number and tempo of incidents increase, so does the likelihood that an episode will escalate to armed confrontation, diplomatic crisis or possibly even conflict,” the report said.

Aquino call for help

In Washington, the US Senate passed on Monday a resolution that deplored China’s use of force against Vietnamese and Philippine ships.

Sen. Jim Webb, chair of an East Asian and Pacific affairs subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said “a growing number of nations around the South China Sea are now voicing serious concerns about China’s pattern of intimidation.”

President Aquino this month called for US help in containing China’s ambitions, saying his country was too weak to stand up to the Chinese alone.

Mr. Aquino made his plea after accusing China of inciting at least seven recent incidents in the disputed Spratly waters, including one in which a Chinese vessel allegedly opened fire on Filipino fishermen.

He also accused China of breaking international law by entering the Philippines’ 370-kilometer economic exclusion zone.

Clinton pledge

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week offered the Philippines’ some comfort, pledging that the superpower would help to modernize the cash-strapped Philippine military.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the West Philippine Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits, while its shipping lanes are vital for global trade. Redempto Anda, Inquirer Southern Luzon; AFP and Reuters

China reiterates ‘indisputable’ sovereignty over West Philippine Sea

2011-06-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

From Inquirer.net

BEIJING—China on Wednesday reiterated that it has “indisputable sovereignty” over islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) after the United States pledged to help the Philippines, which has its own claims in the area.

A spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Yang Yi, also repeated the government position that safeguarding the sovereignty of the area’s potentially resource-rich islets was a “common responsibility” for Beijing and Taipei.

“China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters,” Yang told reporters, according to an official transcript.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits, while its shipping lanes are vital for global trade.

Vietnam, as well as the Philippines, has in recent months accused China of taking increasingly aggressive actions in staking its claim to the disputed waters and its archipelagos.

In response, China has insisted it wants to resolve the territorial dispute peacefully but remained firm in its claims to most of the West Philippine Sea, even waters within the Philippines’ economic exclusion zone.

The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launched joint naval exercises in Philippine waters close to the much coveted West Philippine Sea.

The commander of the US 7th Fleet, Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk, described America and the Philippines as “allies” and said “that is the strongest and most enduring commitment the two nations can make”.

“Our alliance is underpinned by a deep and abiding US interest in the freedom and security of the Republic of the Philippines,” he added.

Filipino-Americans to hold anti-China protests in US

2011-06-28T22:53:00.001-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, California–Filipino-Americans are set to picket China’s consular offices in the United States to protest Beijing’s “impending invasion of the Philippines.”

The protesters, set to converge on July 8 in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, will condemn China’s scheduled oil rig drilling activities in the Kalayaan Islands in the West Philippine Sea.

The coordinated protest actions will be spearheaded by the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), a national organization in the US led by Loida Nicolas Lewis and Rodel Rodis.

Protesters will include leading Filipino-American business, political and community leaders, they said.

The public demonstrations seek to expose China’s “abrogation of its pledge to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to resolve sovereignty disputes peacefully through negotiations,” organizers said.

In March 2010, China unilaterally declared the West Philippine a core national interest similar to its claims to Tibet and Taiwan and therefore “non-negotiable”.

The group also expressed apprehensions over China’s growing military power.

China has 2.17 million armed forces, even larger than the combined military personnel of all the Asean countries.

USP4GG said thay with China’s superior military forces, the socialist state “appears determined to begin its billion dollar oil rig construction activity this July approximately 125 miles from Palawan within the Philippines’s 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).”

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas declares that a nation owns the oil, mineral and other resources within a 200 mile radius from its base.

Last May 27, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) conveyed its concern to China over its state media reports about planned installation of its most advanced oil rig in the West Philippine Sea this July.

According to the Xinhua report, China National Offshore Oil Corp. plans to invest 200 billion yuan ($30 billion) and drill 800 deepwater wells which they expect to have an output of an equivalent 5 million barrels of oil by the year 2020. The target production is equivalent to approximately $50 billion per year.

The Philippine military reported that an an undetermined number of structures were recently built by China in the vicinity of Philippine-claimed Iroquois Reef-Amy Douglas Bank near Palawan.

The site, a DFA statement said, is located southwest of Recto or Reed Bank and east of Patag or Flat Island within the Philippines 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Philippines has the only airstrip in the Spratly Islands, located on Pag-Asa Island, a municipality of Palawan province.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, while visiting Washington DC last week, revealed at least nine Chinese intrusions in Philippine territory in the last few months after a Philippine oceanographic research ship was chased out of Philippine waters by Chinese warships.

“We call on global Filipinos and Philippine organizations throughout the world to stand up to the China bully and protest its impending invasion of the Philippines by demonstrating in front of consular offices of China throughout the world,” Nicolas Lewis said.

“There are more than four million Filipinos in the US who can mobilize to defend the sovereignty of the Philippines by exposing China’s aggressive acts in the Spratlys. What is also at stake is the Philippines ownership of potentially trillions of dollars in revenue from its oil and natural gas resources,” said Rodis.

The organizers also invited Filipinos in the San Francisco Bay Area to attend a meeting at the Filipino Community Town Hall in the Philippine Consulate Social Hall (447 Sutter Street) at 6PM on Wednesday, July 6, to discuss this issue.

For more information on the USP4GG and its planned actions on July 8, please contact Rodel Rodis at Rodel50@gmail.comor call (415) 334-7800.

Philippine-US navies unite amid China tensions

2011-06-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

From Inquirer.net

PUERTO PRINCESA—The Philippines and the United States will launch naval exercises on Tuesday close to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which is the focus of a simmering regional territorial row.

The longtime allies have emphasized the event is an annual one aimed at deepening defense ties, and not linked to rising concern in Manila about allegedly aggressive Chinese actions in the much coveted seas.

“The US and Philippine navies have a long history of working together, and exercises like (these) provide a great venue for us to hone our skills,” said the US commander for the 11-day exercises, Captain David Welch.

Nevertheless the exercises are being seen in Manila as a timely show of unity between the Philippines and its former colonial ruler.

Two state-of-the-art US missile destroyers, along with the host’s World War II-era warships, will patrol the Philippine waters of the Sulu Sea.

The Sulu Sea is separated from the West Philippine Sea only by the narrow island of Palawan.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits, while its shipping lanes are vital for global trade.

Vietnam as well as the Philippines have in recent months accused China of taking increasingly aggressive actions in staking its claim to the disputed waters and its archipelagos.

In response, China has insisted it wants to resolve the territorial dispute peacefully but remained firm in its claims to most of the South China Sea, even waters within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile economic exclusion zone.

President Benigno Aquino III this month called for US help in containing China’s maritime ambitions, saying the Philippines was too weak to stand up to the Chinese alone.

Aquino made his plea after accusing China of inciting at least seven recent incidents in the disputed waters, including one in which a Chinese vessel allegedly opened fire on Filipino fishermen.

Aquino also accused China of breaking international law by entering the Philippines’ economic exclusion zone.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week offered the Philippines some comfort, pledging that the superpower ally would help to modernize the cash-strapped Philippine military.

“We are determined and committed to supporting the defense of the Philippines,” Clinton said.

No specifics were immediately announced but Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario later said the US government had vowed to boost the Philippines’ intelligence capabilities in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippine-US exercises, called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), officially begin at 3:00pm (0700 GMT) on Tuesday with an opening ceremony on Palawan island.

The first of the US vessels, the USS Chung-Hoon arrived at a pier in Palawan’s capital, Puerto Princesa, on Tuesday morning, greeted by a Philippine Navy band playing marching tunes.

US sailors in dress uniforms stood to attention as their vessel was guided into place by tugboats.
The second destroyer, the USS Howard, will arrive later in the day said Lieutenant Commander Mike Morley, spokesman of the US forces.

About 800 US sailors and 450 Philippine seamen will be involved in the exercises.

The United States is scheduled to stage similar exercises with Vietnam next month, although it has insisted they too are unrelated to the West Philippine Sea tensions.

Philippines, US navies in show of unity

2011-06-27T23:47:00.000-07:00

From Inquirer.net

MANILA – State-of-the-art US missile destroyers will join ageing Philippine warships for naval exercises this week in a timely show of unity as tensions with China escalate over a maritime dispute.

The 11 days of exercises start on Tuesday off the southwest Philippine island of Palawan in the Sulu Sea, close to the disputed waters of the South China Sea where Manila has complained of increasing Chinese provocation.

Officially the training is an annual event not linked to the territorial row, but it nevertheless offers the Philippines comfort shortly after appealing to its longtime ally and former colonial power for help in containing China.

“The exercises show that the Philippines and the US are still very close. They (Philippine leaders) hope that the Chinese will be impressed by this,” said Ben Lim, a political science professor at Ateneo de Manila University.

“It will give the Philippines confidence in regard to diplomatic leverage. When they meet the Chinese again in peaceful negotiations, they can say ‘the Americans are on our side’.”

The Philippines has in recent months complained of allegedly increasingly aggressive actions by China in waters claimed by both nations in the strategically vital and potentially resource-rich South China Sea.

The Philippines and China – along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam – claim all or part of the South China Sea, and the area has long been considered one of Asia’s potential military flashpoints.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino this month accused China of inciting at least seven incidents recently, including one in which a Chinese vessel allegedly opened fire on Filipino fishermen.

He accused China of breaking international law by intruding within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile economic exclusion zone, and called on the United States for help in defending his country’s claims against the Chinese.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario last week travelled to Washington, where he won some backing from the United States as the superpower offered to help modernise the cash-strapped Philippine military.

“We are determined and committed to supporting the defence of the Philippines,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a joint news conference with del Rosario.

No specifics were immediately announced but del Rosario later said that US authorities had vowed to help boost the Philippines’ intelligence capabilities in the South China Sea.

Nevertheless, both nations have emphasized that the naval exercises starting Tuesday – named Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) – are part of long-term US efforts help the Philippine military.

“The US and Philippine navies have a long history of working together, and exercises like (these) provide a great venue for us to hone our skills and increase our interoperability,” US CARAT commander Captain David Welch said.

The United States will send 800 sailors and two guided missile destroyers, plus a diving and salvage ship, to the 17th staging of the exercises, the US military said in a press release.

Highlighting the disparity between the allies’ military capabilities, the Philippine navy said it would deploy two World War II-vintage vessels armed only with cannon for CARAT.

About 300 Philippine sailors will take part, according to navy spokesman Lieutenant Noel Cadigal.

The United States is scheduled to stage similar exercises with Vietnam next month, although it has insisted they too have nothing to do with South China Sea tensions.

Vietnam has made accusations similar to those of the Philippines over alleged Chinese actions in the South China Sea recently.

Amid the spike in tensions, China has repeatedly said it wants to solve the territorial disputes peacefully while warning the United States it has no role to play in the spats.

US asks China for lower tension at sea

2011-06-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

HONOLULU – The United States on Saturday called for China to lower tensions in the South China Sea through dialogue as the Pacific powers held first-of-a-kind talks amid friction in Southeast Asia.

Senior US official Kurt Campbell said he told China during the talks in Hawaii that the United States welcomed a strong role for Beijing, which has warned Washington against involvement in the intensifying disputes.

“We had a candid and clear discussion about these issues,” Campbell, the assistant secretary of state of East Asian and Pacific affairs, told reporters after the session in Honolulu.

“We want tensions to subside. We have a strong interest in the maintenance in peace and stability, and we are seeking a dialogue among all of the key players,” he said.

Incidents in recent weeks have heightened tension on the South China Sea, a strategic and potentially oil-rich area where China has sometimes overlapping disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Vietnam carried out live-fire drills and the Philippines ordered the deployment of its naval flagship after accusing China of aggressive actions.

While the United States and China often talk, Saturday’s session was the first to focus specifically on the Asia-Pacific region. The dialogue was set up during the top-level Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington in May.

Spratly Islands Bone of Contention Among Philippines, China, Vietnam

2011-06-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

From Yahoo News

With the attention of the Obama administration fixed on the Middle East, yet another international crisis is threatening to disturb the peace of the world, this time around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The Spratly Islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, among other countries. At hazard are vast deposits of oil and gas as well as a lush commercial fishing zone.

While the Philippines is dedicated to the peaceful resolution of the dispute, which goes back decades, the country is also committed to building up naval strength to increase its capacity to defend its territorial claims if necessary. It has also called upon the United States to help it defend its claims.

A naval conflict in the South China Sea, which the Philippines refer to as the West Philippine Sea and Vietnam called the East Sea, would not be in the interests of anyone. While China has been aggressive in asserting what it considers its national interests, it is not yet capable of asserting sovereignty over the Spratly Islands should it be opposed by the US 7th Fleet. Embroiled in a multi front war in the Middle East and Central Asia, the United States is not interested in participating in a fight in the Far East, especially with another nuclear power.

The smaller countries with claims over the Spratly Islands, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as Taiwan and Malaya, would be caught in the middle of a super power clash should it occur.

What the basis of a diplomatic settlement of the Spratly dispute is not clear. Ceding the islands to one country or another would leave all the other claimants aggrieved and motivated possibly to assert their own claims by force. That would mean that some kind of permanent presence, likely American led, would have to be stationed in the Spratly Islands to keep the peace.

Alternatively, some kind of joint sovereignty arrangement could be worked out in which all or most of the claimant countries would be partners in the development of the Spratly Island resources and sharing the profits. That would have the virtue of not leaving any party to the dispute unsatisfied, tamping down on the possibility of military conflict, while at the same time binding the parties together to cooperate rather than fight to enjoy the fish and hydrocarbon resources of the Spratly Islands.

2011-06-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

The US will help Philippines ‘defend itself’—Secretary Clinton

2011-06-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

from Inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—The United States government is ready to provide assistance to strengthen the Philippine military, including external support for maritime defense, amidst the mounting friction with China on the disputed Spratly islands.

“We are in discussions with the government of the Philippines about what their needs are because it is up to them to decide how to deploy forces and what their highest priorities are…But we certainly wish to do what we can to support the Philippines in their desire for external support for maritime defense,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, after meeting with Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario in Washington D.C.

Clinton said supporting the defense of the Philippines would mean “finding ways of providing affordable material and equipment that will assist the Philippine military to take the steps necessary to defend itself.”

With the growing tension on the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine government has vowed to “do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action.”
Del Rosario said while the Philippines want to maintain peace, China’s response to the country’s diplomatic protests “have been unacceptable.”

“We are concerned about the aggressive intrusions being made by Chinese vessels,” he said. “And in the last couple of months, since February 25th, we actually have noted as many as nine intrusions of different varieties, but clearly becoming more aggressive and more frequent.

Del Rosario said the Philippines responded to these intrusions by filing diplomatic protests.

“We are concerned about the direction these events may be headed…while we are a small country, we are prepared to do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action in our backyard,” Del Rosario said.

He added that the Philippines made clear its position on the issue: to maintain peace while allowing for the economic development of the area.

“There is need to segregate the non-disputed areas from the disputed areas. What is ours is ours, and what is disputed can be shared,” Del Rosario said.

Clinton meanwhile said the US supports the ASEAN China declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea. She said the US government is also prepared to support the initiatives led by ASEAN and work with the South China sea claimants to meet their concerns.

The Aquino government already used “West Philippine Sea” to refer to the waters west of the country where the Philippines has overlapping territorial claims with five other nations. It was previously called “South China Sea.”

The islands are claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Aquino firm on China dispute

2011-06-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino vowed Wednesday that the Philippines would press its territorial claims in the South China Sea, despite the vast military superiority of its rival China.

Aquino also called on Beijing to follow international rules in seeking to resolve rival claims to the strategically important territory that includes the Spratly island chain, believed to sit on vast mineral resources.

“We are just protecting our rights because if you don’t exercise your rights, then you will be abandoning them,” Aquino told reporters.

“If we leave (the South China Sea), then they will just own it,” he said.

Aquino said the overlapping claims, which also include those from Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, should be settled multilaterally under international accords such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We expect China to adhere to that… We believe the basis for our claim is well-founded, especially under this treaty ratified by so many countries including China,” Aquino added.

Aquino said that settlement under UNCLOS was in the interests of the other South East Asian claimants, the United States, the United Nations and all parties who use the sea lanes.

The Philippines interprets the convention as saying a country has exclusive economic rights over waters within 200 nautical miles of its continental shelf.

The country has recently become more active in defending its claim in the South China Sea despite its lack of military resources to enforce it.

Earlier this month the Philippine Navy dispatched its flagship, an ageing World War II vessel, to patrol the South China Sea after China said it was sending a maritime patrol vessel through the area.

Manila has also accused China of being behind several provocative incidents in the Spratlys in recent months.

Singapore on Monday joined the debate, urging China to be more open about the extent of its territorial claims and saying Beijing’s lack of openness was causing international concern.

The Philippine military, meanwhile, said it would soon start repair of its airstrip in Thitu island in the Spratlys, which the country occupies.

“The order of our commander in chief is to do it as soon as possible,” said Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban, commander of military forces in the western Philippines.

Singapore urges China to clarify South China Seas claim

2011-06-22T02:33:00.001-07:00

Singapore has called on China to clarify its claims in the South China Sea following recent confrontations with Vietnam and the Philippines.

Singapore said China's "ambiguity" had caused international concern.

Singapore has no territorial claims in the area, but said it had an interest "in anything affecting freedom of navigation in international sea lanes".

Several Asian nations claim parts of the strategically important waters that may also contain oil and gas deposits.

Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia have competing claims to the Spratly Islands, while Beijing and Hanoi are in dispute over the Paracels.
Disputes debated

In a statement, Singapore's foreign ministry said: "We... think it is in China's own interests to clarify its claims in the SCS (South China Sea) with more precision as the current ambiguity as to their extent has caused serious concerns in the international maritime community."

It lays no claim to the disputed waters but, along with the rest of the region and the US, it has a strong interest in freedom of navigation.

Singapore is a major trading nation and also hosts a US naval facility.

The statement came after one of China's largest maritime surveillance ships, the Haixun 31, docked in the city-state after passing through the South China Sea.

The Haixun-31, which left China last Wednesday, intended to monitor shipping and "protect maritime security" on its way to Singapore, Chinese state media reported at the time.

Singapore's foreign ministry said there was an unusual amount of interest in the ship.

Tensions in the long-standing dispute have escalated in recent weeks, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing China of increasingly aggressive actions in the pursuit of its maritime claims.

For the third week running, anti-China demonstrations have been held in Vietnam.

Vietnam staged a live-fire exercise last week near disputed waters, which Chinese state media denounced as a military show of force.

China has publicised a series of recent military exercises off its coasts, and Vietnam has planned exercises with the US next month.

Danger at sea

2011-06-22T02:30:00.001-07:00

China’s surprisingly aggressive assertion of “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea has startled governments around the region, and puts the emerging superpower on a collision course with its partners in the region as well as the interests of the other, long-established superpower, the United States.

Misconceptions about the issue clutter the public discourse in the Philippines, however, and threaten to harden into conclusions. We owe it to ourselves – and senators and congressmen owe it to their constituents – to clarify the discussion, rather than confuse it.

In the first place, the increased chances of a confrontation with China over the Kalayaan Islands, that chain of islets to the west of Palawan that the Philippines claims, was not the saber-rattling idea of a President with declining satisfaction ratings. Media personalities identified with the Arroyo administration have advanced the suggestion that the entire issue is a wag-the-dog scenario. That kind of thinking reveals politics at its most parochial. If anything, Malacañang has been playing catch-up. China has been increasingly assertive in defending its claim to the area since last year; earlier this year, for example, China cut off the cables of two Vietnamese exploration vessels, one a mere 120 nautical miles off Vietnam’s coast.

Secondly, and contrary to the worldview of some politicians, the dispute does not involve the Philippines alone. Vietnam, in fact, has borne the brunt of renewed Chinese assertiveness, which helps explain why it conducted live-fire exercises off its coast last week. Japan has complained to China about Chinese naval war drills conducted near Okinawa and other islands the Japanese claim. Even Singapore, the lone regional player which is not a claimant, broke its diplomatic silence last week. As it prepared to receive China’s biggest “civilian maritime patrol ship,” it asked Beijing to clarify its territorial claims. “We have repeatedly said that we think it is in China’s own interests to clarify its claims in the South China Sea with more precision as the current ambiguity as to their extent has caused serious concerns in the international maritime community,” the Singapore foreign ministry said.

Third, and most crucial, the flexing of Chinese muscle is not about the Spratlys. It is not about the Paracel Islands, or any other territory included in the so-called nine-dotted line. It is, in fact, about the entire South China Sea which China calls, simply, the South Sea. Last July, in response to the forceful declaration by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it was in the American national interest that “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea be maintained, the People’s Liberation Army issued an equally categorical statement. “China has indisputable sovereignty of the South Sea, and China has sufficient historical and legal backing” to support its claim, the military spokesman said. He added a proviso: “We will, in accordance with the demands of international law, respect the freedom of the passage of ships or aircraft from relevant countries.” The seemingly unilateral language of the American declaration should not confuse us; it is in the entire region’s best interest if freedom of navigation in the South China Sea remains a right, not a favor granted by Beijing.

Fourth, and most particular to our policymakers, the country may be weak economically and puny militarily, but in the looming confrontation with China it does have two advantages: It has international law on its side; and it can expect the support of the international community. China’s recent harassing of a Philippine exploration vessel happened off Recto Bank, only 80 nautical miles from Palawan but almost 500 from mainland China. Under either the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea or the 2002 Code of Conduct, Beijing will have a hard time explaining this aggressive behavior.

Columnist Raul Pangalangan asked the right geopolitical question: What has happened to China’s policy of “peaceful rise”? Its increasingly bellicose posture cannot be disguised by the charm offensive of seasoned diplomats; it is plain for all to see. But China’s undisputed rise as a global economic power means it cannot disregard international treaties indefinitely. That means the Philippines, while standing up as best it can to the bully in the regional schoolyard, must make its case on law and diplomacy.

China has air superiority and so?

2011-06-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

MANILA, Philippines - Should a shooting war break out over the disputed Spratly Islands, China could easily achieve air and sea superiority due to the increased focus Beijing has given to improving its force projection capabilities in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

According to documents obtained by News5, China gradually developed its facilities on Woody Island in the Paracel Islands – making it an unsinkable aircraft carrier. The runway on Woody Island has been extended and hangars and fuel depots have been constructed, which enable China to base and deploy its latest generation of multi-role fighters.

From Woody Island, China will have no problem sending its warplanes to the Spratlys as this is well within the operational radius of its fighters. China’s multi-role fighters can reach as far Metro Manila.

Apart from the unsinkable aircraft carrier, China is scheduled to start sea trials of its first aircraft carrier, the Shi Lang.

Apart from China and the Philippines, the other claimants of the Spratlys are Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Spratlys are believed to have huge deposits of oil, natural gas and minerals and is also considered a major fishing area.

The Paracel Islands are being disputed by China and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said defense modernization remains one of the priorities of the Aquino administration but stresses that they cannot just go on a shopping spree. In an interview with News5, the defense secretary admitted that internal security still had top priority even if the peace talks are ongoing with the communist insurgents and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Gazmin said they have adopted the process which they termed the “Defense System of Management.” He explained they are balancing the needs and requirements with the government’s capability to fund these.

“Our number 1 problem is the internal security operations,” Gazmin told News5 in an interview prior to the reports of Chinese intrusions. “The equipment needed to address internal security operations are a priority.”

“We do not need jets, we need helicopters, transports ... with endurance in air. In the navy, you don’t need blue water equipment – what you need is for island, transport and for use in flood and earthquake,” he added.

But Gazmin said this doesn’t mean they are giving up on modernization.

“My dream is to equip the soldiers with the most modern equipment to be able to address the needs of the times,” he stressed, adding he wants to leave as legacy the long wished for modernization of the Armed Forces.

Documents obtained by News5 show that China is estimated to have stationed eight aircraft variants on Woody Island, whose capabilities range from multi-role to air superiority to ground attack. The warplanes – which include the Sukhoi-27 fighter-bomber (NATO codename: FLANKER) and J-7 close support aircraft (NATO codename: AIRGUARD), which is China’s version of the Russian MIG21 (NATO codename: FISHBED) – have no trouble reaching the Spratlys as the disputed area is well within their operational radius.

However, one warplane can cover the whole island of Luzon, including Metro Manila.

The Sukhoi-30MKK (NATO codename: FLANKER G) is a long-range multi-role supersonic fighter with an operational radius of 1,620 nautical miles but can extend up to 2,800 nautical miles with inflight refueling. The FLANKER G is one latest generation fighter that carry out air superiority or ground attack missions. It is capable of carrying up to eight tons of weaponry, including TV guided air-to-ground missiles, anti-ship missiles and air-to-air missiles.

Aside from Woody Island, China can also deploy its fighters from two other bases: Lingshui Airfield on Hainan Island and from Guanzhou. Also located on Hainan Island is a Chinese naval base, from where submarines can be deployed into the South China Sea.

But it is not only China that can deploy warplanes to the Spratlys. The other claimant countries – namely Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam – have fighters that can reach the Spratlys.

Malaysia is equipped with modern fighters and ground attack planes, such as US built multi-role fighter F/A-18D Hornet, the Russian built multi-role fighter MiG-29 (NATO codename: FULCRUM) and British built Hawk 108 ground attack plane. These aircraft variants are based at Labuan Air Base and the base’s location allows Malaysian aircraft to reach any point of the Philippines.

Taiwan’s Air Force is equipped with fighters, such as the improved version of the US built F5e/F Tiger II and the French built Mirage 2000-5. These warplanes are based at Taitung Air Base and allows Taiwan to reach the Spratlys as well as the whole of Luzon.

Vietnam is equipped with the same warplanes as China and from its bases in Bien Hoa and Phan Rang, it can reach the Spratlys.

Last month, there was a report of foreign aircraft that flew over the Spratlys which were widely believed to have been Chinese. However, the Philippine Air Force could not confirm the nationality as the planes flew at a high altitude.

China is nearing completion of its first true aircraft carrier, with sea trials scheduled in the coming months. The Chinese aircraft carrier is a Kuznetzov-class carrier, which was bought at an auction in 1998 from Ukraine. A private Chinese firm bought the uncompleted carrier, named Varyag, for $20 million and had planned to make it a floating hotel, amusement and gambling destination in Macau.

China took possession of the Varyag when the hotel-gambling project folded. The Varyag was brought to a shipyard in Dalian, China where it was used as a basis to build its first aircraft carrier. The Chinese aircraft carrier was named the Shi Lang, after a Chinese admiral that conquered Taiwan in 1681.

Unlike US aircraft carriers, the Shi Lang will not be equipped with steam catapults but with a ski jump to launch its planes. The Shi Lang will be equipped with 30 Sukhoi-33 carrier borne multi-role fighter (NATO codename: FLANKER D) as well as with anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

A 2010 US Defense Department report to the US Congress said China has begun training 50 pilots to operate fixed wing aircraft from an aircraft carrier. The same report said China’s buildup in the South China Sea “are related to securing its extensive sovereignty claims in the region as they relate to exploiting regional natural resources.”

“A stronger regional presence would position China for force projection, blockade and surveillance operations to influence the critical sea lanes in the region, through which some 50 percent of global merchant traffic passes,” the US Defense Department stated.

The report also highlighted: “Such an increased presence including surface, sub-surface and airborne platforms, and possibly one or more of China’s future aircraft carriers, would provide the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) with an enhanced extended range power projection capability and could alter regional balances, disrupting the delicate status quo established by the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”

Spratly Islands Bone of Contention Among Philippines, China, Vietnam

2011-06-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

With the attention of the Obama administration fixed on the Middle East, yet another international crisis is threatening to disturb the peace of the world, this time around the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The Spratly Islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, among other countries. At hazard are vast deposits of oil and gas as well as a lush commercial fishing zone.

While the Philippines is dedicated to the peaceful resolution of the dispute, which goes back decades, the country is also committed to building up naval strength to increase its capacity to defend its territorial claims if necessary. It has also called upon the United States to help it defend its claims.

A naval conflict in the South China Sea, which the Philippines refer to as the West Philippine Sea and Vietnam called the East Sea, would not be in the interests of anyone. While China has been aggressive in asserting what it considers its national interests, it is not yet capable of asserting sovereignty over the Spratly Islands should it be opposed by the US 7th Fleet. Embroiled in a multi front war in the Middle East and Central Asia, the United States is not interested in participating in a fight in the Far East, especially with another nuclear power.

The smaller countries with claims over the Spratly Islands, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as Taiwan and Malaya, would be caught in the middle of a super power clash should it occur.

What the basis of a diplomatic settlement of the Spratly dispute is not clear. Ceding the islands to one country or another would leave all the other claimants aggrieved and motivated possibly to assert their own claims by force. That would mean that some kind of permanent presence, likely American led, would have to be stationed in the Spratly Islands to keep the peace.

Alternatively, some kind of joint sovereignty arrangement could be worked out in which all or most of the claimant countries would be partners in the development of the Spratly Island resources and sharing the profits. That would have the virtue of not leaving any party to the dispute unsatisfied, tamping down on the possibility of military conflict, while at the same time binding the parties together to cooperate rather than fight to enjoy the fish and hydrocarbon resources of the Spratly Islands.

Who's right in South China Sea spat?

2011-06-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

When Dutch ships sailed up the River Thames into London in 1688, it was clear they were an invading force.

The freedom of the seas was a well-established idea in the 17th Century, with states only able to claim a narrow belt of sea around their own coast.

But as the United States and China have discovered in recent days, that certainty is much harder to come by now.

Tensions were raised after an unarmed US navy surveillance vessel was jostled by five Chinese ships in the South China Sea last weekend.

The Pentagon accused the Chinese vessels of "harassment" during the routine operations in international waters.

Beijing says the US ship behaved "like a spy" and accused it of breaking international law by operating in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The debate over a nation's claim to marine territory has been turbulent - after all, the seas carry immense riches of fish, oil, gas and other resources, as well strategic navigation rights.

Law of the sea

Central to all efforts to disentangling such claims is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - created in 1982 after years of international negotiations.

This is, in effect, a constitution governing the oceans - granting not just the EEZs, but right of access to the sea for land-locked states, the right to conduct marine research, mandating control of resources on the seabed, and creating an international tribunal to settle conflicts.

o could the US-China spat, south of Hainan in the South China Sea, simply be put to the UN tribunal and solved?

Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

Unlike China, the US has signed the UN Convention, but has not ratified it.

This means it has promised not to undertake any action that might defeat the Convention's goals, but it does not consent to be legally bound by its provisions.

"This puts the US in an awkward position," said Dr Mark J Valencia, a leading maritime expert. "They are trying to interpret the terms of the Convention in their favour, which they are not a party to."

The Law of the Sea provides for EEZs - sea zones generally extending 200 nautical miles (370km) from a nation's coast, giving it special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. This is complicated where EEZs overlap.

Without seeing detailed maps of exactly where the US ship was when confronted by the Chinese, experts have been hesitant to say exactly who was right.

If the USNS Impeccable was in China's EEZ, it could have been there perfectly legally - depending on what it was doing.

China says the US was "spying", and thus conducting activities that could be seen as preparation for conflict.

'Eye of the beholder'

So, does China have the moral superiority in this row?

Again, it is not that simple.

"China also conducts intelligence operations in what the Japanese claim as their EEZ," noted Dr Jurgen Haacke of the London School of Economics.

According to the UN Law of the Sea, intelligence operations are normally not deemed "innocent" if they occur in territorial waters.

"Some might argue that intelligence gathering should not be considered to amount to peaceful activity if it was conducted in the EEZ. Whether it is may be in the eye of the beholder," says Dr Haacke.

Dr Valencia agrees.

The Japan-China argument centres on the Diaoyu islands (known in Japan as the Senkaku) and, in law, refers to an area of still-disputed sovereignty.

"China has done things in Japan which it has accused the US of," noted Dr Valencia.

These actions include infringements of the Law of the Sea, such as having a submarine submerged instead of obvious on the surface, or sailing intelligence-gathering ships around in other nations' waters.

Jockeying for position

This is where maps defined by law distort into maps defined by the larger political realities - where geography becomes geopolitics.

The US has long had the seas around Asia to themselves, able to extend their considerable (often nuclear-powered) naval power in and out of Asian states' waters.

Depending what they do there, many of these states have no problem with that.

But China is not alone in its irritation at the assumption of freedom across the high seas.

Indonesia, a key player in talks shaping the Law of the Sea, has been irritated by the US navy sailing ships through its straits at will.

So too has Vietnam, which has also protested against Chinese military exercises in its waters.

But only China has made its irritation so public.

Analysts say voluntary codes of conduct across Asia's seas need to be strengthened into enforceable guidelines to avoid future conflicts.

Underlying the recent US-China spat is a fear in some South East Asian states, as well as in the West, of China's growing military might.

"While there may even be some sympathy for China's robust actions given more widespread concerns about how the US collects intelligence, China challenging the US creates instability and is therefore generally not in the interest of other Asian countries," says Dr Haacke.

China has protested before - when a Chinese frigate confronted the USNS Bowitch in the Yellow Sea in March 2001.

The next month, a Chinese jet fighter collided with a US surveillance plane over Hainan, rupturing US-China defence contacts for a while.

Neither the US nor China can claim to be wholly right. "It's not a slam dunk on either side," says Dr Valencia.

There is a jockeying for position afoot across Asia's rich and contested seas. So long as the US refuses to ratify the UN Convention "it's going to get worse", he says.

Vietnam and China hackers escalate Spratly Islands row

2011-06-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Computer hackers from Vietnam and China have attacked websites including portals run by each other's governments, amid a sea-border row.

The hackers replaced content on the sites with abuse and national symbols.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his country's claims to territory in the South China Sea were incontestable.

Chinese officials later warned other Asian nations to halt exploration for minerals in the area.

Both sides claim ownership of islands in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have rival claims in the area.
'Strong determination'

On the weekend, hundreds of Vietnamese protested against Chinese naval operations in disputed waters.

Relations between Vietnam and China have long been awkward, but public protests are extremely rare.

The demonstrations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City followed a confrontation between a Vietnamese ship and Chinese patrol boats last month.

Hanoi accused a Chinese patrol of cutting the cables of a Vietnamese ship conducting seismic research about 120km (80 miles) off Vietnam's coast.

At the time of the incident, China said that Vietnamese vessels had been operating "illegally", adding that the country should "refrain from creating trouble".

On Thursday, Prime Minister Dung made his first comments on the row, saying Vietnam's sovereignty was incontestable in areas of the Paracel and Spratly island groups.

"We continue to affirm strongly and to manifest the strongest determination of all the party, of all the people and of all the army in protecting Vietnamese sovereignty in maritime zones and islands of the country," Mr Dung said in comments reported by the Thanh Nien newspaper.

Later, Vietnamese officials accused a Chinese fishing boat of once again intentionally ramming cables from an oil exploration vessel inside its exclusive economic zone.

And separately, China's ambassador to the Philippines, Liu Jianchao, warned other countries to stop prospecting for oil in the area.

The disputed islands are largely uninhabited, but the area includes important shipping routes and may contain oil and gas deposits.

Build unified ASEAN in South China Sea: McCain

2011-06-21T03:46:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Senator John McCain called Monday for the United States to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations to stand up against China in the increasingly volatile South China Sea.

McCain, a senior member of the Republican Party, said the United States should help members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to develop and deploy an early warning system and coastal vessels in contested waters.

The former navy captain said the United States should also turn to diplomacy to help ASEAN nations sort out their own disputes and "establish a more unified front," hailing a recent agreement between Malaysia and Brunei as an example.

"China seeks to exploit the divisions among ASEAN members to play them off each other to press its own agenda," McCain told a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

McCain, a champion of an assertive military policy who lost the 2008 presidential race to Barack Obama, welcomed the administration's defense of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea but said it should go further.

He said it should let "other countries know, where possible, which claims the United States accepts, which ones we do not, and what actions we are prepared to support," especially in defense of the Philippines, a treaty ally.

Tensions have been rising in the potentially resource-rich South China Sea and East China Sea, where Beijing has myriad territorial disputes.

In recent weeks, Vietnam has carried out live-fire naval drills and the Philippines has announced plans to send its naval flagship in contested waters after incidents at sea.

The United States and Vietnam, which have growing ties, last week jointly called for a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea.

But the United States as a general rule does not take positions on territorial disputes to which it is not party.

McCain said he welcomed a cooperative relationship with China and did not seek conflict, but laid the blame squarely on China's "aggressive behavior" and "unsubstantiated territorial claims" for recent tensions.

McCain, who has voiced alarm at what he sees as isolationism within his party, said the United States had an interest in working to prevent any nation from using "persistent bullying" to impose itself on the South China Sea.

"It could create a troubling incentive for rising powers everywhere to take by force what peaceful legal means cannot secure for them," McCain said.

China insisted last week that it would not resort to the use of force in the South China Sea and urged other countries to "do more for peace and stability in the region."

Speaking at the Washington conference, Su Hao, a scholar at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, insisted his country was not becoming more assertive.

Su, who said he was not representing the government, described China as a "benign giant" that sought cooperation but happened to be in a less friendly neighborhood than the United States.

"For China, we prefer peace and stability rather than conflict," he said.

He questioned why tensions have risen rather than calmed down in the nearly one year since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to Hanoi, issued a call for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Su said that the Chinese feel "scared sometimes, or feel some kind of uncertainty to make us try to say something to support our claims in the South China Sea."

"The reason why China looks a little bit assertive is because there is some sort of reaction to some things happening against China," he said.

Singapore urges China to come clean in dispute

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE—Singapore on Monday urged China to be more open about the extent of its territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying Beijing’s ambiguity was causing international concern.

The foreign ministry said while Singapore had no claims of its own, the city-state was a major trading nation whose interests could be affected by issues relating to freedom of navigation in the area.

Tensions between China and other rival claimants to the strategically vital South China Sea – home to two potentially oil-rich archipelagos, the Paracels and Spratlys – have escalated in recent weeks.

The Philippines and Vietnam in particular have expressed alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by China in the disputed waters, but Beijing has insisted it is committed to resolving the issue peacefully.

Singapore’s statement was issued after a Chinese surveillance vessel, the Haixun 31, docked in the island-state after passing through the South China Sea.

“We… think it is in China’s own interests to clarify its claims in the SCS (South China Sea) with more precision as the current ambiguity as to their extent has caused serious concerns in the international maritime community,” the Singapore statement said.

“Singapore is not a claimant state and takes no position on the merits or otherwise of the various claims in the SCS,” it added.

“But as a major trading nation, Singapore has a critical interest in anything affecting freedom of navigation in all international sea lanes, including those in the SCS.”

Manila on Friday said it would deploy its naval flagship to the South China Sea a day after China announced the Haixun 31′s mission, while up to 100 Vietnamese rallied outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi for the third weekend in a row against Beijing’s claims.

Vietnam and China have held separate live-fire military exercises in the area after Hanoi accused Chinese ships of ramming one oil survey ship and cutting the exploration cables of another.

The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or part of the territories in question.

South China Sea: The coming war?

2011-06-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

From: http://volvbilis.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/south-china-sea-the-coming-war/

Five things you need to know about one of the world’s most dangerous places.

Taipei, Taiwan — It’s a 3.5 million-square kilometer stretch of ocean, speckled with some 200 coral atolls, some submerged or so tiny they hardly deserve to be called islands.

Welcome to the South China Sea, an obscure patch of global real estate that you’re likely to hear more about in coming years.

Six Asian countries have long had competing — at times comical — claims to various islands here, sending token military forces to occupy barren rocks at great expense in the name of national pride.

What’s new is China’s muscle-flexing, which, if trends continue, could make the South China Sea one of Asia’s most dangerous flash-points.

Fueling tensions in the sea are untapped oil and natural gas reserves, China’s growing strategic interest in protecting sea lanes by which it gets some of its oil, and Beijing’s desire to develop a “blue-water” navy capable of projecting power far beyond China’s shores.

The U.S. is paying closer attention to the South China Sea, after China reportedly threatened U.S. energy firm ExxonMobil with retaliation if it continued oil exploration off Vietnam in waters China considers its own. And last year Chinese military vessels harassed U.S. surveillance ships in the sea.

Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made what’s believed to be the highest-level public U.S. remarks to date on the issue.

“The South China Sea is an area of growing concern,” he said at a security forum in Singapore. “This sea is not only vital to those directly bordering it, but to all nations with economic and security interests in Asia.”

Gates repeated the U.S.’ longstanding policy that it takes no position on conflicting sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

But he said the U.S. believes “it is essential that stability, freedom of navigation, and free and unhindered economic development be maintained” and that “we object to any effort to intimidate U.S. corporations or those of any nation engaged in legitimate economic activity.”

Here’s a primer on the issue:

1) Why does America care?

The U.S. objects to any attempts to intimidate American energy companies operating in the South China Sea, which stretches from China all the way south to Indonesia. It also insists on the right of free navigation in international waters, defined, in accordance with customary international law, as any waters beyond 12 nautical miles from a nation’s shoreline.

China says its sovereign territorial waters extend 200 miles from its shores, and makes a historical claim to almost all of the South China Sea, according to a backgrounder from the Heritage Foundation. China also says that any ship traversing the sea should first obtain Chinese permission. It has long complained about U.S. intelligence-gathering from spy-planes and spy-ships operating off its coastline.

2) Who else claims territory in the South China Sea?

Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim all or some of the South China Sea. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracels islands (known as the Xisha in Chinese), which China has controlled since a 1974 battle with Vietnam that left 18 dead. The other four countries as well as China and Vietnam also claim some or all of the Spratly Islands (known as the Nansha in Chinese) further south.

China’s hold here is more tenuous; a skeleton force occupies nine speck-like islands, while Taiwan holds the largest island Itu Aba (or Taiping island, in Chinese), Vietnam holds 29 islands, the Philippines eight and Malaysia three, according to Michael Richardson, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, in a recent commentary. More than 70 Vietnamese sailors died in the latest military clash in the Spratlys, with China in 1988.

3) What’s new about China’s behavior?

China has built up its small military presence in the Spratlys. It angered Vietnam by issuing a unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea, then boarding and seizing Vietnamese fishing boats who did not observe that ban.

Longer-term, China is building up a massive naval base on its southern island of Hainan from which it will be able to project power into the South China Sea. The base will house China’s new nuclear-armed submarines, as well as its first aircraft carrier, expected to enter service by 2012, and many other warships.

Perhaps most significantly, China has recently begun to define its claim of sovereignty over the South China Sea as a “core interest,” say analysts, using new language that puts the sea on par with Beijing’s claims over Taiwan and Tibet. Veteran China watcher Willy Lam calls it part of China’s “red-line diplomacy.”

“These red lines define China’s core interests,” said Lam at a recent talk in Taipei. “Now, China is increasing its core interests. The latest development is that China also considers the South China Sea as its ‘core interest’ — it’s asking the U.S. and other countries not to interfere with its ‘core interests’ in the South China Sea. It’s drawing red lines around the entire sea.”

Wendell Minnick, Asia bureau chief for Defense News, wrote in an email that Gates’ remarks in Singapore were a “surprise.”

“Clearly China’s decision to include the South China Sea as a ‘core interest’ is something unnerving,” said Minnick.

Southeast Asian nations are also increasingly worried, according to Arthur Ding, a Taiwan expert on military issues who also attended the Singapore conference. He said he’s heard rising concerns from southeast Asian officials, especially those from Vietnam and the Philippines, about China’s growing “assertiveness.”

And he highlighted Chinese general Ma Xiaotian’s mention of the South China Sea in a Q&A session in Singapore.

“The South China Sea had become so quiet, or at least not as much of an issue as the Taiwan Strait and the Korean peninsula,” said Ding. “So this [Ma's remarks] really surprised me.”

4) What are the most plausible conflict scenarios?

One worry is an incident at sea — say, a collision between a U.S. surveillance ship and a People’s Liberation Army ship leading to loss of life — that could escalate due to miscalculation and lack of communication. One such incident took place in 2001 between a U.S. spy-plane and a Chinese fighter jet. The U.S. and Chinese militaries established a hotline in 2008, but China often simply refuses to pick up the phone out of pique, according to a recent Defense News report.

But the nations most likely to come to blows in the South China Sea may be China and Vietnam. Hanoi was incensed by Beijing’s treatment of its fishing boats last year and lodged a formal protest. It continues to see the Paracels as its territory, illegally occupied by the Chinese. Anti-China nationalism runs strong in Vietnam and is easily inflamed. The two nations’ militaries have twice skirmished in the South China Sea, in 1974 and 1988.

China’s moves appear to have already started a regional arms race, analysts say. “Some southeast Asian nations are starting to beef up their armed forces to hedge growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea,” wrote Ian Storey, fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, in a recent commentary.

Defense News’ Minnick said that Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam had “gotten into the submarine game,” and that “there are more concerns of an underwater collision than an accidental war” in the South China Sea.

“Many of the countries now deploying submarines are not familiar with underwater rules of right of way,” Minnick said. “There are clear demarcations for direction and depth that are not being followed by some of the more inexperienced countries. And then there’s Chinese submarines roaming around as well. So it’s getting crowded underwater.”

Meanwhile, one side effect of China’s new claim may be to strengthen the U.S.’ budding ties with Vietnam. “The U.S. is moving closer to Vietnam, and better military-to-military relations are expected to improve this year as China rattles the saber more,” said Minnick.

5) Are there any efforts to resolve South China Sea disputes?

In 2002 the concerned nations signed a “code of conduct” agreement on the South China Sea. But the deal hasn’t yet been fully implemented, largely due to China, analysts say. “China perceives the South China Sea as its territory, so it thinks ‘Why do I have to implement the code of conduct?’” said Ding, the Taiwanese expert.

Last year, Vietnam and Malaysia submitted their formal claims to territory in the South China Sea. China immediately protested, rendering the claims invalid, a move that further ratcheted up ill will. The issue has quieted down in recent months, but the underlying territorial disagreements are far from being resolved.

“Somehow, ways must be found to prevent emotive nationalism and militarism from upsetting the uneasy status quo in the South China Sea,” wrote the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies’ Richardson.

The Philippines can handle a bully

2011-06-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

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THE FOLLOWING ISLANDS BELONG TO THE PHILIPPINES

2011-06-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Features

Pagasa Island(Thitu Island)
Likas Island(West York Island)
Parola Island(Northeast Cay)
Lawak Island (Nanshan Island)
Kota Island (Loaita Island)
Patag Island (Flat Island)
Panata Island(Lankiam Cay)
Rizal Reef(Commodore Reef)
Balagtas Reef (Irving Reef)
Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas Reef)

Pagasa Island is where you can fine the town of Kalayaan. Kalayaan is the one of the municipalities in the Philippines to have a single barangay which is Pagasa. All municipalities and cities in the Philippines are further divided into smaller political subdivisions called barangays. Because only Pagasa Island among all Philippine-occupied Spratly islands is currently inhabited by civilian Filipinos, other islands cannot have a barangay status. The civilian population, about 300 which includes children, was introduced in 2001 to strengthen Kalayaan's status as a municipality. However, less than 200 civilian Filipinos are present in the island at a time. Others have works to attend to in Palawan mainland.

Pagasa is the only Philippine-occupied island to have a significant number of structures. . These include a municipal hall, multi-purpose hall, health center, school, water-filtration plant, marina, and military barracks. It also has its own communications tower owned by SMART Telecommunications, a Philippine company. Pagasa residents raise pigs, goats and chickens and plant crops in an alloted space to supplement their supplies of goods provided by a naval vessel which visits once a month. By day, the residents get electricity from a power generator owned by the municipality. By night, they shift to stored solar power which comes from 1.5V solar panels installed in the island. The municipal government of Kalayaan is making new projects to promote tourism for the island. Also, they had been successful in convincing many Filipino businessmen to invest in Kalayaan.

SOUTH CHINA SEA IS CHINESE PROPERTY?!? -- BULLSHIT!

2011-06-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,350,000 sq mi).

It is located

south of mainland China and the island of Taiwan,
west of the Philippines,
north west of Sabah (Malaysia), Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei,
north of Indonesia,
north east of the Malay peninsula (Malaysia) and Singapore, and
east of Vietnam.

The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

Several countries have made competing territorial claims over the South China Sea. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia's most potentially dangerous point of conflict. Both People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) claim almost the entire body as their own.

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