China says no South China Sea at G-20, US urges transparency

A senior Chinese diplomat made clear Monday that Beijing wants next month's meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 major economies to avoid political issues such as its territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea.

Deputy Foreign Minister Li Baoding said China wants to avoid sensitive diplomatic issues at the Sept. 4-5 summit that it is hosting in the eastern resort city Hangzhou.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

The consensus among members is to "focus on economic development and not be distracted by other parties," Li said when asked about territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

"The Hangzhou summit must focus on economic issues," Li said. "This is what people want to talk about most at the summit."

Li gave similar responses to questions about China's opposition to South Korea's deployment of a U.S. missile defense system.

A desire to avoid a showdown at the G-20 summit was seen by some as moderating China's response to the July 12 ruling by an international arbitration panel in The Hague, Netherlands, that invalidated China's maritime claims to virtually the entire South China Sea.

However, speculation has also risen that China might make even more assertive moves after the meeting, including possibly launching reclamation projects in new areas or declaring an air defense identification zone over the crucial waterbody.

___

Duterte says he's taking a softer approach in dispute with China

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he is adopting a softer approach in resolving the long-simmering disputes with China in the South China Sea. "We're not in a hurry to wage war, we're in a hurry to talk."

Duterte's special envoy to China, former President Fidel Ramos, returned to Manila on Friday after meeting with Chinese intermediaries in Hong Kong to pave the way for possible talks in Beijing.

Ramos told reporters that China welcomed him to visit Beijing for discussions in the wake of last month's international arbitration panel's ruling in favor of the Philippines over China's South China Sea maritime claims.

The arbitration case was brought by Duterte's predecessor, and Duterte has been lukewarm in his support for the action.

Ramos said in a statement that he met in Hong Kong with the Chinese legislature's foreign affairs chief, Fu Ying, and a leading government-backed scholar on the dispute, and agreed on the need to reduce tensions through talks.

Ramos "expressed the Philippine government's desire to hold formal discussions with the Chinese government on issues of mutual concern and interest at the appropriate time to explore pathways to peace and cooperation," the statement said.

However, Ramos told reporters at a brief news conference that the ruling had not been directly discussed and gave no indication of when the Beijing talks might be held and suggested another negotiator might take his place.

___

Japan, Philippine diplomats urge restraint from China

The top diplomats from Japan and the Philippines urged China on Thursday to avoid intimidating actions and follow the rule of law in disputed waters.

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. and Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida made the call after meeting in southern Davao city, where they discussed their countries' territorial rifts with China, including Tokyo's help in providing patrol vessels to the Philippines, and enhancing strategic ties. Kishida later met Duterte.

"Maritime order based on the rule of law is indispensable for regional stability and prosperity," Kishida told reporters, adding that the international community should strive to ensure that long-seething conflicts are resolved peacefully.

"This is the not kind of action that is mandated by international law and if anyone, including China, has any particular claim that it asserts over any particular territory, it must bring this within the concept of a peaceful resolution," Yasay said.

The Philippines challenged the validity of China's claims and aggressive actions in the South China Sea after Chinese government ships took control of disputed Scarborough Shoal following a tense standoff in 2012.

___

US says more military transparency needed

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Tuesday the response from Beijing and others to the arbitration panel's ruling had brought no surprises, but much more military transparency is needed to reduce tensions in the region.

Adm. Scott Swift also criticized China-Russia joint naval exercises planned next month in the South China Sea, saying the choice of location was not conducive to "increasing the stability within the region." He also said any decision by China to declare an air defense identification zone over the strategic water body would be "very destabilizing from a military perspective."

Swift was visiting the northern Chinese port of Qingdao as part of efforts to build trust and understanding between the two navies, now locked in a protracted competition for primacy in East Asia, where the U.S. has traditionally been the dominant military power.

Swift cited two examples where a lack of Chinese military transparency was problematic: The still unexplained cancellation by China of a visit by the aircraft carrier USS Stennis earlier this year, and the reason for the construction of new hardened aircraft hangers on China's man-made islands.

"That increases the angst and uncertainty, that lack of transparency, and that is generally destabilizing as opposed to a stabilizing action," Swift said.

source:  By Christopher Bodeen (Associated Press) 

China’s SC clarifies maritime jurisdiction

BEIJING—The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) on Tuesday issued a regulation on judicial interpretation to clarify China’s jurisdiction over its territorial seas.

The explanation provides a clear legal basis for China to protect the maritime order, marine safety and interests, and to exercise integrated management over the country’s jurisdictional seas, said an SPC statement.

The regulation, which takes effect Tuesday, states that Chinese citizens or foreigners will be pursued for criminal liability if they engage in illegal hunting or fishing, or killing endangered wildlife in China’s jurisdictional seas.

An unnamed SPC official said maritime courts across China have handled many maritime cases in recent years. “People’s courts’ jurisdiction over the Diaoyu, Huangyan and Xisha Islands and its adjacent sea areas has never stopped,” the official said.

“Judicial power is an important component of national sovereignty,” said the official, adding, “People’s courts will actively exercise jurisdiction over China’s territorial waters, support administrative departments to legally perform maritime management duties, equally protect the legal rights of Chinese and foreign parties involved and safeguard Chinese territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.”

The judicial explanation, based on Chinese law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and judicial practices, further clarifies China’s maritime jurisdiction, the statement said.
According to the regulation, jurisdictional seas not only include inland waters and territorial seas, but also cover regions including contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves.

The regulation also addresses Chinese citizens or organizations engaged in fishing in fishing zones or the open sea under co-management between China and other countries, according to signed agreements.

The interpretation specifies the standard of conviction and punishment for illegal marine fishing: Those who illegally enter Chinese territorial waters and refuse to leave after being driven away, or who re-enter after being driven away or being fined in the past year, will be considered to have committed “serious” criminal acts and will be fined and sentenced to less than a year of imprisonment, detention or surveillance.

This penalty also applies to those who illegally enter China’s territorial seas to fish but do not engage in “illegal fishing” under the law, it said.

“The explanation offers legal guarantees for marine fishing law enforcement,” defining punishments for fishing without a license in order to encourage legal fishing, said the statement, adding that it also promotes judicial assistance and international cooperation on marine affairs.

In recent years, illegal hunting, fishing and killing of endangered wildlife in China’s jurisdictional seas has happened frequently, and foreign ships and foreigners have entered China’s exclusive economic zones to conduct criminal activities, said the SPC official.
The official said applying the Criminal Law to crack down on crimes in China’s jurisdictional seas is conducive to safeguarding territorial sovereignty and maritime integrity.
DoF counters China’s SC ruling

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)  has countered the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) of China’s regulation yesterday, that warned foreign fishermen with criminal liability if they engage in “illegal hunting or fishing” in China’s jurisdictional seas.

In an effort to undermine the validity of ruling handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which struck Beijing’s claim on 90 percent of South China Sea, the SPC issued this regulation to clarify its power over their territorial sea.
Although the regulation did not mention the contested South China Sea, it made clear that it is based on Chinese law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and judicial practices, a clear descent to the July 12, award.

For the past years, Filipino fishermen have been barred and chased away by Chinese coast guards from fishing in the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, which has been a traditional fishing ground to both Filipinos and Chinese nationals.
The contested area, just 124 nautical miles away from Zambales, has been guarded by China since.

DFA Assistant Secretary Charles Jose took the stand that this regulation is beyond international law as “the tribunal made it clear in its ruling that Bajo de Masinloc is a common fishing ground.”

He added that “it is important that our fishermen are able to return to Bajo de Masincloc because it is about their livelihood.”

With this,  he assured that in future direct talks with China, “this is definitely a priority issue” that they will have to resolve.

Future bilateral talksIn an earlier interview, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. already affirmed that Philippines will soon push through bilateral negotiations with China to settle this matter in the West Philippine Sea.

“We are still being harassed by China. So what we are doing is to  try to work out with China at this point,” he said in a radio interview.

Japan warns China over territorial aggressionMeanwhile, Beijing risks triggering unintended conflict with Asian rivals through its aggressive stance in maritime disputes, Japan warned Tuesday in an annual security assessment.

China’s sweeping claims over the strategic South China Sea, where it has built a series of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations despite overlapping claims from other nations, have stoked international alarm.

The region’s superpower “continues to act in an assertive manner” and its actions “include dangerous acts that could cause unintended consequences,” Tokyo said in a defense white paper.

Beijing is under pressure to respect a UN-backed tribunal’s finding last month that there is no legal basis for its ambitions over the resource-rich South China Sea where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others also lay claims.

The white paper said China was “poised to fulfill its unilateral demands without compromise” including efforts “to turn these coercive changes to the status quo into a fait accompli”.
And it again called on Beijing to abide by the ruling of the tribunal, which China has denounced as a fraud.

Japan also expressed concern over increased activity in the East China Sea, where the two countries have competing claims over a group of small uninhabited islets called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

“Recently, China has been intensifying activities near the Senkaku Islands, such as its military aircraft flying southward closer to the islands,” it said.

In the year to March 2016, Japan’s air force scrambled jets 571 times against Chinese planes flying near Japanese air space, an increase of 107 from the previous year, it added.
In June Japan accused China of sending a spy ship into its territorial waters as Tokyo conducted a joint exercise with the United States and India.

And last month the two countries were at loggerheads over accusations Japanese warplanes locked their fire control radar onto Chinese aircraft.

Beijing sparked alarm after it unilaterally established an air defence identification zone in the East China Sea in 2013, demanding all aircraft submit flight plans when traversing the zone which covers islands disputed with Tokyo and also claimed by Taipei.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in February that China’s military presence in the South China Sea was increasing the risk of “miscalculation or conflict” between regional countries.

A US warship in May sailed close to a disputed reef Beijing has built up into an artificial island, prompting China to express “dissatisfaction and opposition”.

Japan’s white paper also highlighted concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program, saying it was possible it has “achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and has developed nuclear warheads”.

Xinhua, AFP and Joyce Rocamora

source:  Daily Tribune