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China has dispatched its most modern patrol ship to the South China
Sea, state press said Sunday, after an incident with a US naval
vessel and a fresh claim by the Philippines
to disputed territory.
The Beijing News said the vessel would conduct
patrols on what it called China’s exclusive maritime zone in the
disputed waters surrounding the Paracel and Spratly Islands.
It said the converted naval rescue ship would
aid Chinese fishing boats and transport vessels.
The Philippines passed a law last week which
lays claim to disputed islands in the Spratlys chain that are also
claimed by China. Beijing has called the law “illegal and
invalid.”
Tensions in the area rose further 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 claimed that 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
flashpoints 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.
Philippines to verify reports
Malacañang has instructed the Department of
Foreign Affairs (DFA) to verify reports about China’s deployment
of a Navy vessel to the South China Sea. “The Palace is asking the
DFA to look into the matter,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told
The Manila Times on Sunday.
He said the Philippine government would decide
on appropriate steps once the Foreign Affairs department comes up
with an assessment.
The Philippine military, too, said it would
verify the reports before it decides on a course of action, Navy
spokesman Edgard Arevalo said also on Sunday.
The military has no plans to make any moves yet
in connection with the reported deployment of a modern Chinese
patrol ship in the waters surrounding the disputed Spratlys Islands.
The Navy would make a recommendation, and the
authorities would let the commanders in the area to first verify the
Chinese report, Arevalo told The Times.
No cause for alarm
He said there is no reason to be alarmed,
because the purpose of the Chinese vessel in the area has not yet
been established. He added that other claimant countries, including
the Philippines, also send patrol vessels to the area from time to
time.
“We see no violations committed as of the
moment . . . until such time that we received reports regarding the
vessel’s purpose, then that is the only time we make the necessary
actions,” Arevalo explained.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila
agreed.
The Philippine government is convinced that
other claimant countries to the disputed islands would not resort to
violence, a diplomatic source said also Sunday. The source asked not
to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“There have been Chinese vessels in that area
before, and they have not resorted to violence,” the source told
The Times in a phone interview. “Besides, there are existing
mechanisms for consultations regarding the matter.
“The Philippines is convinced that China,
along with other claimant countries to certain islands in the
natural-resources-rich South China Sea, will remain guided by the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations [Asean]-Declaration On the
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, particularly in
exercising self-restraint,” the source added.
The source was referring to the agreement
between the governments of the member-states of Asean and the
Chinese government that prohibits activities that are
provocative—such as conducting military exercises, occupying
previously unoccupied areas and other similar actions.
The same declaration, which took effect in 2002,
is also cognizant of the need to promote a peaceful, friendly and
harmonious environment in the South China Sea between Asean and
China for the enhancement of peace, stability, economic growth and
prosperity in the region, the source explained.
Asean groups the Philippines, Brunei, Laos,
Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore and
Vietnam.
-- AFP, Angelo S. Samonte, Jefferson Antiporda And Llanesca T.
Panti
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