#China accused of South Sea grab The #Philippines has accused #China of hatching a long term plan to lay claim to the whole of the #South #China Sea. #Manila claims that a rule imposed by the #Chinese island province of #Hainan , which requires all foreign fishing boats to secure permission before entering much of the South #China Sea, is part of Beijings strategy to take over the waters entirely. The #Hainan fisheries law is only one of the unilateral measures by China to force a change in the regional status quo in order to advance its... position of undisputed sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Raul Hernandez. The US State Department has called the introduction of the rule a provocative and potentially dangerous act, and the Philippines Defence Secretary, Voltaire Gazmin, says #Filipino fishermen will ignore it. The Philippines has been locked in an increasingly tense standoff with #China involving disputed reefs and islands in the South China Sea, which #Manila calls the West Philippine Sea. Chinas territorial claims over the South China Sea overlap those of the Philippines as well as those of #Brunei , #Malaysia , #Vietnam and #Taiwan . Mr Hernandez says Chinas claim to the entire South China Sea is in gross violation of international law. It is the core issue that must be singularly and fully addressed, he says, calling on China to agree to have the issue brought before an international arbitration tribunal. We reiterate our invitation to China to join us in arbitration as we intend to proceed with or without China for a final disposition. The Philippines insists that what has become known as Beijings nine-dash line outlining its territorial claims over most of the South China Sea, including waters and islands close to its neighbours, is illegal. It took its case to a tribunal last year under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty signed by both countries in 1982, but China swiftly dismissed the action. abc.net.au/news/2014-01-18/an-phils-china/5206942 via #AseanMilitaryNews
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 01:26:22 +0000
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