China is deploying more surveillance and paramilitary ships to the South China Sea without a clear legal framework to assert its ambiguous territorial claims, risking more confrontations, a report said yesterday.
The bigger patrol ships sent by Chinese maritime surveillance and fisheries agencies have figured in major flare-ups, including an ongoing standoff with a Philippine Coast Guard vessel over a disputed shoal off the western Philippine coast.
At the same time, the nearly dozen Chinese government agencies handling Beijing’s claims compete over budget and power and operate with conflicting mandates and lack of coordination, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in its report.
Six countries — including Taiwan — are engaged in territorial rifts in the South China Sea, crossed by one of the world’s busiest commercial sea-lanes and accounting for about 10 percent of the annual global fisheries catch.
A map China submitted to the UN in 2009 claims virtually the entire area, but Beijing has so far refused to define the exact extent of its claims, causing confusion and fostering potential conflicts, the ICG said.
Some Chinese ships, according to the ICG, were unaware of the limits of the areas where they were supposed to assert sovereignty.
ICG said it interviewed an official with the Maritime Safety Administration in China’s Hainan Province who said he did not know what area to defend. The official was not further identified.
The China Marine Surveillance, an agency patrolling the South China Sea, plans to increase its personnel from 9,000 to 15,000 and the number of ships from 280 to 520 by 2020, the ICG said. Another agency, the China Fisheries Law Enforcement Command, plans to acquire more helicopter-carrying patrol ships. Such buildup is separate from the strengthening of China’s navy, according to the Brussels-based group.
Manila has asked Beijing to bring their disputes to the UN for arbitration, a process that will require both to delineate their claims. However, Chinese officials have insisted on negotiating with other claimants individually.
The latest confrontation erupted on April 10 when a Filipino warship attempted to arrest Chinese fishermen, who were accused of illegally entering and poaching endangered species at Scarborough Shoal (黃岩島). Two Chinese surveillance ships prevented the arrests and the fishermen slipped away.
Also yesterday, the Philippines warned that China’s sweeping territorial claims in the region may eventually threaten freedom of navigation in the busy region and called on Western and Asian countries to take a stand against any such potential threat.
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said China has claimed virtually the entire South China Sea for years. Now, they can aggressively assert its claims as shown by its actions at Scarborough Shoal, he told reporters.
“This is a manifestation of a potential threat to freedom of navigation as well as unimpeded commerce in the area,” he added.
Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario said that with Beijing claiming almost everything in the South China Sea, “the message is [Beijing] can set the rules for anybody.”
“I think the current standoff is a manifestation of a larger threat to many nations,” Del Rosario told a local TV network in an interview. “They should be concerned if they’re interested in maintaining the freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce.”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
RSS