Sino sea tour: Palace clueless on the issue
By Joyce Pangco Panares | Posted on Apr. 30, 2013
A Malacañang official said Monday the government will
“burn the bridge when we get there” when asked on the possibility that the Chinese may send tourist ships to the areas within the country’s 200-nautical-mile zone in the highly-disputed South China Sea (West Philippine Sea).
“As long as they don’t enter our sovereign [waters],” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
“Let’s burn the bridge when we get there. They are not there (Philippine territory) yet.”
The Palace’s reaction came amid reports that Beijing had sent tourist ships to Paracel Islands, one of three major islands in the South China Sea which is also being contested by Vietnam.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding territorial row over the Paracels.
Last month, Hanoi accused a Chinese vessel of firing at one of its fishing boats which had sailed in disputed waters in the area.
The report on the Chinese tour said that some 100 passengers paid at least 7,000 yuan or $1,135 for each ticket for the four-day voyage.
“China’s Xisha tourism has nothing to do with its neighboring countries,” Ju Hailong, a research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Jinan University, told reporters.
“Those who want to manipulate China’s moves to make trouble are not admirers of international law and regional security,” he added.
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario admitted that China was trying to establish a “de facto occupation” in the Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal.
At present, there are three Chinese boats in the shoal – two maritime surveillance ships and one Fisheries Law Enforcement Command vessel.
There have also been reports of Filipino fishermen complaining that they have been barred by the Chinese boats from plying the disputed waters.
Del Rosario admitted that a military response was not an option at this point as the country’s legal experts have advised the government to focus on its arbitration case filed before the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas.
The Hamburg-based ITLOS has already completed the five-man arbitration panel, and will decide by July if it has jurisdiction over the case lodged by Manila questioning Beijing’s nine-dash line policy claiming the entire West Philippine Sea.
Del Rosario said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is hopeful that China would be cooperative in drafting of a binding Code of Conduct that will govern maritime disputes in the area.
Meanwhile, administration candidates reiterated their call for the Chinese government to respect international laws of the sea in dealing with the territorial disputes, stressing that a peaceful solution to the crisis should prevail as a top priority of all nation-claimants.
Presidential cousin Bam Aquino, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, re-electionist Sen. Francis Escudero and Grace Poe, of the Liberal Party-led Team PNoy said the Chinese government should stop bullying the country with its continued invasion of islands in the resource-rich sea that are being contested by countries which have their own separate territorial claims.
They also backed the government’s position seeking a UN ruling on dispute.
“We support President Benigno Aquino III’s position to take up the issue of territorial disputes with China to the United Nations. We reiterate that this matter should be resolved by using all available diplomatic channels, and with only the best interests of the Filipino people in mind,” Aquino said.
Angara said China should join all claimants in pursuing all diplomatic means to end the disputes and consider a possible joint exploration of the islands believed to be rich in resources, especially oil reserves.
“We appeal to Chinese government to pursue all diplomatic ways in finding solution to the territorial disputes and cooperate to the possibility that all claimants may opt to enter into a joint exploration for the benefit of everybody,” Angara said.
Escudero said the Aquino government did the right thing in bringing the matter before the United Nations.
“The fact that China is complaining is best proof that what PNoy did is in the best interest of the country, not of China,” Escudero said, after China accused the country of trying to legalize its occupation of islands in the West Philippine Sea by going to UN.
Poe agreed with Escudero, as she said that China should not refuse to settle the disputes before the UN body as a responsible nation adhering to peaceful and joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea for the benefits of all nation-claimants.
“I support the position of our government to bring the issue of the West Philippine Sea to the United Nations. I believe that both the Philippines and China are responsible members of the community of nations, and the United Nations is a venue where disagreements can be settled in a peaceful and civilized manner,” Poe said.
“We are all counting on China to do its utmost in working with us. China should be concerned of its reputation as a nation that abides by the rule of law and should manifest a sense of being a responsible member of the community of nations,” he said. With Maricel V. Cruz
Sino sea tour: Palace clueless on the issue - Manila Standard Today
ASEAN, Chinese FMs to meet over S China Sea disputes
2013-04-29
JAKARTA - Secretary-General of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Le Luong Minh said on Monday that foreign ministers of ASEAN member countries will have a meeting with their Chinese counterpart in Beijing to further discuss peaceful settlement on territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
"The meeting between ASEAN foreign affairs ministers and Chinese foreign affairs minister has been scheduled in August or September this year in Beijing," Minh told Xinhua on the sidelines of a media briefing on the results of the recent high-profile ASEAN Summit held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
He said that during the summit, all ASEAN members agreed to assign their foreign ministries to continue to work actively with China on the way forward for early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus.
In his briefing, Minh said that ASEAN leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace, stability and maritime security in the region. They also underscored the importance of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), ASEAN's six-point Principles on the South China Sea and the Joint Statement of the 10th anniversary of the DOC.
"In this regard, we reaffirmed the collective commitments under the DOC to ensuring the peaceful resolution of dispute in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea without resorting to the threat or use of force, while exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities," Minh said in the briefing.
He added that ASEAN is looking forward to continued engagement with China in implementing the DOC in a full and effective manner, including through mutually agreed joint cooperative activities and projects.
ASEAN, Chinese FMs to meet over S China Sea disputes |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn