Aquino firm on China dispute

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino vowed Wednesday that the Philippines would press its territorial claims in the South China Sea, despite the vast military superiority of its rival China.

Aquino also called on Beijing to follow international rules in seeking to resolve rival claims to the strategically important territory that includes the Spratly island chain, believed to sit on vast mineral resources.

“We are just protecting our rights because if you don’t exercise your rights, then you will be abandoning them,” Aquino told reporters.

“If we leave (the South China Sea), then they will just own it,” he said.

Aquino said the overlapping claims, which also include those from Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, should be settled multilaterally under international accords such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We expect China to adhere to that… We believe the basis for our claim is well-founded, especially under this treaty ratified by so many countries including China,” Aquino added.

Aquino said that settlement under UNCLOS was in the interests of the other South East Asian claimants, the United States, the United Nations and all parties who use the sea lanes.

The Philippines interprets the convention as saying a country has exclusive economic rights over waters within 200 nautical miles of its continental shelf.

The country has recently become more active in defending its claim in the South China Sea despite its lack of military resources to enforce it.

Earlier this month the Philippine Navy dispatched its flagship, an ageing World War II vessel, to patrol the South China Sea after China said it was sending a maritime patrol vessel through the area.

Manila has also accused China of being behind several provocative incidents in the Spratlys in recent months.

Singapore on Monday joined the debate, urging China to be more open about the extent of its territorial claims and saying Beijing’s lack of openness was causing international concern.

The Philippine military, meanwhile, said it would soon start repair of its airstrip in Thitu island in the Spratlys, which the country occupies.

“The order of our commander in chief is to do it as soon as possible,” said Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban, commander of military forces in the western Philippines.

Singapore urges China to come clean in dispute

SINGAPORE—Singapore on Monday urged China to be more open about the extent of its territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying Beijing’s ambiguity was causing international concern.

The foreign ministry said while Singapore had no claims of its own, the city-state was a major trading nation whose interests could be affected by issues relating to freedom of navigation in the area.

Tensions between China and other rival claimants to the strategically vital South China Sea – home to two potentially oil-rich archipelagos, the Paracels and Spratlys – have escalated in recent weeks.

The Philippines and Vietnam in particular have expressed alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by China in the disputed waters, but Beijing has insisted it is committed to resolving the issue peacefully.

Singapore’s statement was issued after a Chinese surveillance vessel, the Haixun 31, docked in the island-state after passing through the South China Sea.

“We… think it is in China’s own interests to clarify its claims in the SCS (South China Sea) with more precision as the current ambiguity as to their extent has caused serious concerns in the international maritime community,” the Singapore statement said.

“Singapore is not a claimant state and takes no position on the merits or otherwise of the various claims in the SCS,” it added.

“But as a major trading nation, Singapore has a critical interest in anything affecting freedom of navigation in all international sea lanes, including those in the SCS.”

Manila on Friday said it would deploy its naval flagship to the South China Sea a day after China announced the Haixun 31′s mission, while up to 100 Vietnamese rallied outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi for the third weekend in a row against Beijing’s claims.

Vietnam and China have held separate live-fire military exercises in the area after Hanoi accused Chinese ships of ramming one oil survey ship and cutting the exploration cables of another.

The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or part of the territories in question.

SOUTH CHINA SEA IS CHINESE PROPERTY?!? -- BULLSHIT!

The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 square kilometers (1,350,000 sq mi).

It is located

• south of mainland China and the island of Taiwan,
• west of the Philippines,
• north west of Sabah (Malaysia), Sarawak (Malaysia) and Brunei,
• north of Indonesia,
• north east of the Malay peninsula (Malaysia) and Singapore, and
• east of Vietnam.

The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.

Several countries have made competing territorial claims over the South China Sea. Such disputes have been regarded as Asia's most potentially dangerous point of conflict. Both People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) claim almost the entire body as their own.