On the Spratlys

China shows might in South China Sea
Security chief Gonzales worried by move
By Christian V. EsguerraPhilippine Daily Inquirer Agence France-Presse
Posted date: March 16, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—China’s dispatch of a state-of-the-art patrol ship in the South China Sea doesn’t necessarily smack of gunboat diplomacy, but Malacañang is taking it seriously.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales Sunday said he would call for an immediate meeting of the Cabinet’s security group to discuss the Chinese action in the wake of Beijing’s protest over the signing of the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law.

“The deployment of the patrol ship was a message and we cannot just ignore it,” Gonzales told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview. “We have to take it seriously.”
China’s state media Sunday reported that the country had dispatched its “most modern patrol ship” in the South China Sea following an incident with a US naval vessel and the signing of the Philippine baselines law.

“This should remind us that even in this era of dialogue and understanding in the world, there will always be nations that will show might and threaten perceived weak nations like us,” Gonzales said.

He said the meeting of the national security cluster would tackle the Philippine government’s response to the ship deployment in the context of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.

“That’s where we should be going,” he said. “The only thing we can do is to resort to diplomacy.”

In the declaration, China and Southeast Asian nations agreed to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features, and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.”

Baselines bill ‘illegal’

China had earlier protested the signing of the baselines bill, describing it as “illegal.”
But the Philippine government maintained that it was standing by its claim on the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal—an area potentially rich in oil.

The baselines law excludes the disputed Kalayaan Group of Islands and the Scarborough Shoal from the archipelago, treating them instead as part of a “regime of islands.”
Still, China was adamant that the Philippines was claiming its territories in the Spratlys, particularly Huangyan Island and the Nansha Islands.

Gonzales said the Chinese protest could be considered a form of diplomatic “posturing.”
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde Sunday described Beijing’s move as a “normal conduct in international diplomacy.”

“We should not be worried about it,” Remonde said in his Sunday media forum on state-owned Radyo ng Bayan. “The United Nations will be the final arbiter of the issue.”

UN Law of the Sea

Remonde maintained that the baselines law was consistent with requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“What our President and our government (officials) did was in accordance to their sworn constitutional duty which is to uphold and protect the sovereignty of our country,” he said.

Remonde said the Philippine government would also have lodged a similar diplomatic protest if China or other claimants of the disputed island came up with an official action similar to the baselines law.

No official reaction has been issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, but a DFA official who did not wish to be named said that the Chinese move seemed to comply with the 2002 declaration, particularly its provision on notification coursed through official media.
Beijing News said the Chinese vessel would conduct patrols of what it called China’s exclusive maritime zone in the disputed waters surrounding the Paracel and Spratlys, according to Agence France Presse.

The report said that the converted naval rescue ship would aid Chinese fishing boats and transport vessels.

Standoff in South China Sea

Tensions in the area rose when the United States sent destroyers to international waters off southern China to protect a naval surveillance patrol that was involved in a standoff with
Chinese vessels.

China said the US patrol vessels were within its 200-kilometer economic exclusive zone, but the United States has insisted they were in international waters.

The Spratly and Paracel island chains have been flash points for years.

The Spratlys are claimed in full or part by China and Vietnam, as well as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, and the Paracels are claimed by China, which now occupies them, as well as by Vietnam and Taiwan. With reports from Jerome Aning and Agence France-Presse.