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Philippines' Aquino says ASEAN must tackle China sea claims
by Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) May 10, 2014


US senators: China sea actions 'deeply troubling'
Washington (AFP) May 09, 2014 - Several US lawmakers criticized China Friday for its "deeply troubling" actions in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and urged passage of legislation that seeks peaceful solutions to rising maritime tensions.

Communist neighbors China and Vietnam have seen tensions soar since Beijing announced last week it would move a drilling rig into contested waters.

Several collisions in the area have been recorded between Chinese and Vietnamese ships, with each side blaming the other for the incidents.

"China's recent movement of an oil drilling rig escorted by military and other ships into disputed waters in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam -- and the subsequent aggressive tactics used by Chinese ships, including the ramming of Vietnamese ships -- is deeply troubling," the senators said in a statement.

"These actions threaten the free flow of global commerce in a vital region."

The bipartisan group of six lawmakers, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, are sponsors of a non-binding resolution introduced in April that condemns the use of force and advocates a peaceful diplomatic resolution of territorial and maritime claims.

China and Vietnam, which fought a brief border war in 1979, have been locked in a longstanding territorial dispute over the waters and related oil exploration, fishing rights and sovereignty in the Spratly and Paracel Islands.

But Beijing is also locking horns with other Asian nations that have competing claims in the South China Sea, including the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as with Japan in a separate territorial dispute.

In November China set up an "air defense identification zone" (ADIZ) over the East China Sea that included contested islands claimed by it and Tokyo, prompting condemnation by Washington.

The senators warned that the ADIZ and Beijing's "harassment of Japanese vessels around Japanese-administered territory in the East China Sea all raise serious questions about China's approach to regional security."

Earlier Friday Beijing defended itself against previous "irresponsible" US criticism about the escalating dispute with Vietnam.

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel was in Hanoi Wednesday where he told reporters that Washington opposed "any act of intimidation" in disputed areas and hoped sovereignty issues could be settled diplomatically.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino Saturday urged fellow Southeast Asian leaders to face up to the threat posed by China's contentious claims to most of the South China Sea as they headed to a regional summit.

Manila filed a case at a UN tribunal in March challenging Chinese claims to most of the strategic sea. Aquino said he would discuss the case's regional implications with fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meeting in Myanmar.

Even though not all ASEAN members are involved in maritime territorial disputes with China, Aquino said the issue concerned the security of the region as a whole.

"We wish to emphasise, uphold and follow the rule of law in resolving these territorial issues so that the rights of all countries involved will be recognised and respected," Aquino said in a speech at Manila airport.

"This step mirrors our belief that an issue that affects all countries in the region cannot be effectively resolved merely through a dialogue between two countries," he added.

Aquino said the issue concerned the "security" of Southeast Asia.

Myanmar is hosting the two-day meeting amid a flare-up of high-seas tensions between ASEAN members Vietnam and the Philippines and regional superpower China, also one of their main economic partners.

China claims most of the South China Sea, including waters and rocks close to the shores of its neighbours, and the Philippines and Vietnam have both accused Beijing of increasingly aggressive moves to assert its claims.

These claims also overlap those of Taiwan, as well as ASEAN members Brunei and Malaysia.

The sea is crisscrossed by fishing and shipping lanes and is thought to contain huge oil and gas reserves.

Hanoi said this week that Chinese ships that had surrounded a Chinese deep-water oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam had used water cannon against, as well as rammed, Vietnamese patrol vessels there.

Meanwhile, Manila said it arrested 11 crew members of a Chinese-flagged fishing boat Tuesday for poaching hundreds of protected marine turtles in waters that are part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

China has rejected arbitration in the Philippines' UN case, preferring to settle the issue through bilateral negotiations while insisting its sovereignty over these areas was "indisputable".

The other ASEAN members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

The weekend summit in Naypyidaw follows a visit to Asia late last month by US President Barack Obama in which he restated support for Asian allies the Philippines and Japan, which is locked in its own maritime territorial dispute with China.

More than 5,000 US and Filipino troops are currently engaged in annual war games in the Philippines, with a focus on maritime security.

China says rig operating within its territory in South China Sea
Beijing (UPI) May 9, 2013 - Chinese drilling operations near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea are normal and within Beijing's territorial waters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

Yi Xianliang, deputy director-general of ocean affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, challenged claims from Vietnam that a drilling rig was operating in Vietnamese waters.

PetroVietnam, the country's state-owned energy company, said last weekend drilling rig HD-981, deployed by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. about 120 miles off the coast of Vietnam, was encroaching on its sovereignty. The Vietnamese government said it would take "all the proper and necessary measures" to protect its interests.

Yi said Thursday said the Chinese government, however, was "deeply surprised" by Vietnam's reaction. The rig, he said, was operating completely within Chinese territorial waters.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during her regular press briefing Thursday the Chinese side was taking "provocative" actions over the dispute. It's not for the United States to determine territorial claims, though "dangerous conduct [by China] ... is concerning," she said.

China and Vietnam have made competing claims of aggression in the ongoing row.

China is at odds with many of its territorial neighbors over claims to the South China Sea.

"We believe that all sides should operate in a way that reduces tensions," the State Department spokeswoman said.

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Japan, US express concern at China-Vietnam maritime spat
Tokyo (AFP) May 08, 2014
Japan and the United States said Thursday they were deeply concerned by the latest flare-up between China and Vietnam over contested waters, with Tokyo urging Beijing to rein in its "provocative" actions. The comments came after Hanoi said Chinese vessels rammed its patrol ships and turned water cannon on them near a controversial drilling rig in a disputed patch of the South China Sea. ... read more


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