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