Philippines violates UN Convention

The Philippines detained 11 Chinese fishermen for unverifiable crime after seizing their vessel near China's Half Moon Shoal in the South China Sea on May 6. On Monday, the Philippines defied China's demand to free the fishermen and charged nine of them with poaching more than 500 endangered sea turtles. Two fishermen, both minors, will be sent back home.

By doing so, the Philippines has violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which it has been trying to use to legalize its claim on China's islands in the South China Sea.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters in the South China Sea. In May 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam jointly submitted to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf a notification of the two countries' continental shelf claims in the South China Sea, and Vietnam also unilaterally made another submission. In response, China submitted its map of the nine-dash line attached to two note verbales to the UN to refute the two countries' extended continental shelf claims. In the notes, China stated that it has the sovereignty and sovereign rights over the territorial sea and exclusive economic zones of Nansha Islands.

Since Half Moon Shoal is part of the Nansha Islands, Manila has no right to detain any vessel or fisherman fishing in its waters. By doing so, it has violated international norms for the fishing industry, as well as the UNCLOS.

China has been exercising its administrative jurisdiction over the Nansha Islands and its surrounding waters by carrying out normal maritime operations. But of late, Chinese fishermen have not been feeling safe in the South China Sea because of the belligerent attitude of some countries locked in territorial disputes with China.

According to the UNCLOS, after being authorized to fish in some exclusive economic zones, countries should abide by the laws and regulations of the coastal states when it comes to the management and conservation of resources. The coast guard of a coastal state could board and check the relevant documents of vessels fishing in the waters near its coast if they violate these laws and regulations. It could even detain the fishermen. But under no circumstances, should the fishermen (or other people on board the vessels) be subjected to corporal punishment and imprisonment.

Moreover, Manila has failed to honor the regional order. The UNCLOS says the disputing countries should resolve the issue of overlapping economic zone boundaries through agreements on the basis of international law in order to achieve an equitable outcome. In case the disputing countries fail to reach an agreement, they should try to work out a provisional arrangement and, during the transition stage, both sides should avoid taking unilateral actions that could hinder the possibility of a final agreement.

The Nansha Islands are within 400 nautical miles of all the countries locked in the South China Sea disputes. Since China has sovereignty over the islands, its duly exclusive economic zone overlaps with those of the other disputing countries. So it's important that Manila faces up to a sea boundary delimitation dispute with Beijing.

To maintain regional stability and to resolve the disputes in the South China Sea through peaceful means, China and ASEAN signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. Beijing's proposal of "shelving the disputes and conducting joint exploration" got positive response from the disputing countries and praise from the international community. This could be regarded as a provisional arrangement for the ultimate resolution of the disputes.

But using its advantageous geographical position and assuming that the disputed areas are part of its territory, the Philippines has been seizing Chinese fishing vessels and detaining Chinese fishermen. Such provocative actions by the Philippines are worsening the already tense atmosphere in the region.

It should thus be clear to the international community that Manila, not Beijing, has violated the DOC and the UNCLOS, as well as further damaged the fragile Sino-Philippine relations. And justice chooses those who choose to side with it.

Contributed by Li Jieyu (China Daily)

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• US support no use for Manila to bluff South China Sea claims

The US and the Philippines began a two-week military drill on Monday. This "shoulder to shoulder" exercise is widely believed

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US support no use for Manila to bluff South China Sea claims

The US and the Philippines began a two-week military drill on Monday. This "shoulder to shoulder" exercise is widely believed to be targeted at China. Some US analysts even argue that Washington should adopt a national strategy oriented at South China Sea to stop China's "aggression" in this region. Without a correct understanding of China's South China Sea policy and the US role in this area, these analysts miscalculated the real Asia-Pacific geopolitics.

China is depicted by many Western media as a bully in South China Sea, but the reality is that most of the Nansha Islands are forcibly occupied by those supposedly "bullied," such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

We shouldn't draw a simple conclusion that China and the US will engage in a hot war if Washington gets fully involved in this area. It's too naïve a judgment, as what the Philippines and Japan are aiming at is to turn their conflicts with China into a direct confrontation between China and the US. Such change is unlikely to happen in post-Cold War international relations.

The islands disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea are a battle for national interests. They have led to a strategic game between China and the US, but its intensity is not high.

Where the game heads to relies on how the stakeholders, especially China and the US, interact with each other. Neither Manila nor Washington can manipulate the situation. China has more power to reshape the scenario.

Both China and the US are global powers, and the islands disputes constitute just a fraction of their bilateral relationship. Neither China can cherish illusions that the US will stay neutral in the South China Sea, nor the Philippines and Japan can indulge in a reverie that Washington would jeopardize its relationship with China for their petty interests.

China has more confidence than ever to face the US in the South China Sea chessboard. A growing US-China relationship benefits the US, which mandates that US doesn't allow its warships to be locked in a dangerous standoff with China.

What's more, China's actions have never really touched the nerve of the US. People with insight can see the restraint and prudence of China's South China Sea policy.

The other stakeholders in this area should cast away illusions that the US would be their "big daddy." Bilateral negotiations with China are the only way to address these disputes and to protect their own interests.

Washington's military deployment in Asia-Pacific can hardly be turned into real deterrence against China, but the US won't stop making mischief in this area. However, under the framework of a new type of major power relationship, China is gathering more experience to play the chess with the US.

Countries like the Philippines and Japan should better update their knowledge about China. Borrowing power from the US and scaring China reflects nothing but their short-sightedness.

Source:Global Times Published: 2014-5-7 0:33:01

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 The high-profile interventions by the US in the disputes between China and some of its neighbors over some islands or reefs and maritime entitlements in recent years, have seen the US frequent making use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It seems that according to the US, China has become a violator of UNCLOS.    

Who owns Diaoyu Islands?

Historical documents dating back to the Ming Dynasty establish Diaoyu Islands as Chinese territory. The challenge to Chinese ownership came from Japanese annexation of the islands in 1894-5 following the first Sino-Japanese War.

TENSIONS are rising in the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands — five tiny islands and three rocks covering a mere 7sq km in the East China Sea.

It is a pity that this is happening especially when Chinese-Japanese economic ties have reached a new level since the end of last year with the two countries agreeing to use their respective currencies in their bilateral trade, instead of the US dollar.

To de-escalate tensions, Japan should make the first move. It was the Japanese government’s purchase of three of the islands from the Kurihara family on Sept 11, 2012 that ignited the present crisis. That decision should be rescinded immediately.

In fact, Japan has been upping the ante on Diaoyu — which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands — for some time now. It will be recalled that on Sept 7, 2010 when a Chinese fishing boat collided accidentally with a Japanese patrol vessel near Diaoyu, the captain and the crew of the Chinese boat were detained by the Japanese Coast Guard for a few days.

Though they were all released in the end, the incident revealed a new toughness on the part of the Japanese. The Chinese have been reacting to this and other such incidents.

What explains this new toughness? Some analysts attribute it partly to the growth of the political right in Japanese politics.

Japanese economic stagnation for more than two decades and China’s success in replacing Japan as the world’s second-most important economy have increased the influence of conservative nationalist forces in the country who are now targeting China.

Impending elections within the ruling Democratic Party and the forthcoming general election have also widened the berth for conservative politics.

It is also not a coincidence that the Japanese right-wing has become more vocal — especially vis-a-vis China — at a time when the United States is seeking to re-assert its presence and its power in the Asia-Pacific region. In the last couple of years, US political and military officials have on a number of occasions underscored the significance of US-Japan security ties.

Even on the Diaoyu dispute, the US government, while professing to remain neutral, has through the Pentagon made it clear that the Japan-US Security Treaty would come into force in the event of a military conflict between Japan and China.

This stance has to be viewed in the larger context of the US’ active military alignment with the Philippines in its recent clash with China over the Huangyan Island in the South China Sea and its support for Vietnam in its long-standing tiff with China over parts of the Spratly Islands and the Paracels.

For both Japan and the US there may also be other reasons why the Diaoyu Islands are important.

In 1968-9, a United Nations agency, it is reported, had discovered potential oil and gas reserves near Diaoyu. The US military, it is not widely known, also uses one of the five islands — Kuba — as a practice range for aircraft bombing.

Whatever the reasons for holding on to Diaoyu, Japan’s claim to ownership is weak. There are books, reports and maps from the 15th century, during the period of the Ming Dynasty, that establish in no uncertain terms that Diaoyu is Chinese territory. The books Voyage with a Tail Wind and Record of the Imperial Envoy’s Visit to Ryukyu bear testimony to this.

Even writings by Japanese scholars in the late 19th century acknowledged this fact. The challenge to Chinese ownership of Diaoyu came from Japanese annexation of the Islands in 1894-5 following the first Sino-Japanese War. China under the Ching Dynasty was too weak to fight back and regain lost territory. But annexation through military force does not confer legitimacy upon the act of conquest.

This is why when Japan was defeated in the Second World War the victors who included China and the US recognised that Diaoyu was Chinese territory.

Both the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration acknowledged this though for administrative purposes Diaoyu was placed under US control as part of its governance over the Ryukyu Islands. The US was then the occupying power in Japan following the latter’s surrender.

However, when China was taken over by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the US changed its position and began to treat the Islands as part of Japan. The Chinese communist leadership protested vehemently.

In 1971, the US Senate returned the Diaoyu Islands, together with Okinawa, to Japan under the Okinawa Reversion Treaty. Again, the Chinese government in Beijing objected, as did the Taiwan government which also regards the islands as part of China.

Since the normalisation of relations between China and Japan in 1972, both sides have agreed to allow their fishermen to operate in the waters surrounding the islands without resolving the issue of ownership.

Of course, neither China nor Japan has relinquished even an iota of its claim in the last 40 years. Recent incidents have, however, forced this unresolved issue into the open.

Apart from taking the first step by abrogating its purchase of the islands, as we have proposed, Japan should also come to terms with undeniable historical, legal and ethical facts. It must accept the irrefutable reality that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China.

We realise that there are powerful vested interests that will not allow Japan to embrace this truth.

Nonetheless, we should all try to persuade the Japanese government and the Japanese people that it would be in their best interest to do so.

Governments in Asia should convey this message to Japanese elites through quiet diplomacy. Citizen groups throughout the continent should speak up in a firm and courteous manner.

The media too should play its role by laying out the arguments for an amicable resolution of the dispute which respects truth and justice.

Comment by CHANDRA MUZAFFAR

>Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)

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Investing in better relations

China and Asean edge towards better ties, mostly because of the risk of a deteriorating relationship.

ASEAN and China made moves during the week to upgrade ties, or at least to talk about the prospect of formal deliberations to do so.

The unusually roundabout manner of this, even for Asean diplomacy, was because much of the basis for it is the highly unlikely and delicate one of contested maritime territory in the South China Sea.

All contending parties have had to tread gingerly, with fingers and toes crossed. But other events have also played a role.

Asean countries had already made clear that regardless of disputes with each other or with China, no external party should get involved. It was not difficult thus to put US diplomats on notice.

So when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton toured South-East Asia this time, with an appearance at the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh, she talked about economic cooperation rather than a “pivot” to “rebalance” against China. It contrasts with her last foray into this region and another Asean meeting.

However, Clinton’s office also had an official announce that the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands claimed by both China and Japan fell under Article 5 of the US-Japan security treaty. The official declared that the uninhabited islands were under Japan’s jurisdiction, bolstering Tokyo’s claim, and that the US was thus obliged to respond in any conflict.

That made officials in Beijing jump. It also made them seem more conciliatory on the Asean front, in a set of disputes over the Spratly Islands.

China declared on Wednesday that it wanted to strengthen “communication and cooperation” with Asean members with mutual benefit all-round. On the same day at the meeting in Phnom Penh, Thailand announced that it would not allow disputes in the South China Sea to disrupt cooperation between Asean and China.

Thailand is serving as coordinator between Asean and China over the next three years. It is not among the four Asean countries that are claimants to the Spratly Islands along with China and Taiwan.

It has been 10 years since Asean and China signed the Declaration on the Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), a non-binding agreement covering “soft issues” like maritime research and environmental protection.

Since then, Asean has wanted to move on to a binding Code of Conduct for the South China Sea (COC). But while China is all for the DOC, saying that it had yet to be implemented fully, it wants to move slower on the COC.

It is still unclear how far serious talks will go in creating a new status quo for the contending claims. On present form, despite all the pleasantries and avowed goodwill, any talks at all are unlikely to achieve anything substantial.

For decades, no specific talks had even been envisaged, let alone conducted satisfactorily and concluded successfully. Now differing positions are being taken over the DOC and the COC, which does not help, amid a general feel good feeling about everyone wanting to feel better, which may not get anywhere.

Prof Zhang Yunling is director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at Renmin University in Beijing. The following is part of an exclusive interview he gave during a recent ISIS conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Q. China’s rise has largely been economic; how else will it express its ascendancy in the region and the world?

A. China’s rise has reshaped the region’s economic structure, which has been a very positive development. It will continue to rise, and in other aspects, as well as play an important role.

Compared to the past, there are two differences today. First, it is based on an open economic structure, with close links with other countries, not top-down but in equal partnership as in production networks.

Secondly, there is institutional development, not just gestures as with the old China. There are equal rights, equal treatment of other countries, which are rules-based and multi-layered. We are moving ahead, but it also needs time.

There is greater movement of people, through travel and tourism, and people get to know each other better. There are also more projects for (international) assistance, training and capacity-building.

There is anxiety over China’s military build-up, but it is normal for China to develop its military along with its (economic) development.

One concern is a change in the existing order because China was not a player before. Japan has historical (baggage), the US has been dominant in the past, so there should be a place for China.

Another concern is over dispute settlement: previously there has been cooperative behaviour, now there are bigger armed forces. Yet no other country has so many unsettled disputes as China on both land and sea.

>How do you see China-US ties, today’s most important trans-Pacific bilateral relationship?

This is a very complex matter for China. For others, it is about how to accept a rising China and its role in a positive way.

Germany and Japan before were not bound by factors as China is today: agreements, commitments, shared interests. How China would manage these should not cause other countries to see it as a threat; it is now in a transitional period, without much experience of it.

The US is very important to China in economic terms. So China has to carefully manage relations with the US, to avoid any possible confrontation and seek any possible cooperation.

Both countries have such a close relationship which never occurred before between a rising superpower and an existing superpower. They have to live together and work together.

US technology and its economy are still dominant and important for China. But the US sees China as a threat, and ideologically wants to see China turn into a democratic country.

The US has always tried to make China more like it over the past 100 years, but not successfully – yet it is still trying. US pressure is very clear.

China wants to have its place, and the US has to prepare for that. It is trying to contain China, so China sees this as a threat.

But it’s not a zero-sum game as with the Soviet Union, because of the close interests between the US and China. The door is open, not closed.

> What is the status of China’s proposals to promote military cooperation with South-East Asian countries?

There is now no military cooperation. We should have regular defence ministers’ consultations and exchanges of military personnel.

There should be joint maritime operations for accidents at sea, for example. Also, on non-traditional threats at sea (piracy, terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics, illegal immigration).

There have been exchanges between China and Indonesia, and cooperation between China and Malaysia in producing military equipment.

> How has China’s perception of Asean changed over the years?

China sees the Asean process positively, acknowledging Asean’s role in creating a stable and cooperative region. There is the China-Asean FTA, with other cooperative projects.

All this is quite different from the past.

China hopes Asean can play a stronger role in the region for more cooperation and institution-building. Asean needs to be more united to work cooperatively towards a real Asian century.

Asean can help create a new regional institution. Asia should be a security provider, since there has been too much reliance on outside security providers.

Behind The Headlines By Bunn Nagara

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United we stand, divided we fall in South China Sea?

The continuing standoff between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island) is a reminder that Asean needs to get its act together sooner rather than later.

THE South China Sea, spread over 3.6 million sq km, has long been a hotbed of overlapping bilateral and multilateral territorial claims.

China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over three-fourths of the South China Sea, including the Paracel and Spratly group of islands, the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal. Parts of the Spratly islands are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Paracels are claimed by China and Vietnam while the Scarborough Shoal involves the Philippines and China.

What makes these claims significant, and complicated, is the real possibility that the South China Sea may contain some of the world’s most significant deposits of oil and gas. Some estimates suggest that the region may contain as much as 20-30 billion tonnes of oil or 12% of global reserves.

Earlier this year, the Philippines invited foreign companies to drill for oil in the Scarborough Shoal area. China immediately condemned the move. The People’s Daily, in an editorial, even went so far as to call for “substantial moves, such as economic sanctions, to counter aggression from the Philippines”.

China has repeatedly stated that it wants to settle these conflicting claims through peaceful negotiations. However, it has not been averse to using force when challenged; it forcibly took the Paracels and seven of the Spratly islands from Vietnam following skirmishes in 1974 and 1988, respectively.

This stands in contrast to the peaceful resolution of island disputes between Malaysia and Singapore, and Malaysia and Indonesia, through the auspices of the International Court of Justice.

Malaysia and Thailand also set a sterling example in 1979 by agreeing to put aside overlapping boundary claims in the Gulf of Thailand and jointly exploiting oil resources there, a win-win situation for both sides. A similar agreement was signed between Malaysia and Vietnam in 1992.

Territorial sovereignty can, of course, be a highly emotive issue. Nations often work themselves into a frenzy and go to great lengths to defend a pile of rock, a shoal or a frozen bit of mountain.

India and Pakistan, for example, have squared off against each other for more than 20 years over a worthless patch of ice in the Himalayas, 5,700m above sea level.

More soldiers have died of harsh weather conditions than actual combat but the madness goes on with no end in sight.

In 1996, Asean ministers, recognising the potential for conflict arising from overlapping claims in the South China Sea, agreed to negotiate a regional framework for managing the issue. It has been a difficult process.

In 2002, Asean and China managed only a joint declaration committing themselves to the peaceful resolution of their territorial disputes. It has not, however, prevented tense situations from developing as we have seen in the Scarborough Shoal.

Understandably, Asean is extremely wary of upsetting China. China has become too big, too powerful, too overwhelming to antagonise.

At the same time, Asean is also deeply divided on the question of how to respond to issues that are strictly bilateral in nature or limited to just a few of its members.

The Philippines, for example, has long pressed for a tougher Asean position in order to strengthen its hand vis-à-vis China, something that other Asean countries have been reluctant to endorse fearing it will only lead to further confrontation.

There is, in fact, a sense within Asean that the Philippines has mismanaged its handling of the issue, a view that is also shared by quite a few Filipino commentators. Now that the United States has signalled its reluctance to be drawn into the dispute, Asean leaders are hoping Manila will reassess its position.

Asean needs to realise, however, that its greatest strength in dealing with China or any one else for that matter, on this or any other issue, is its own unity and solidarity. United it stands, divided it falls.

All issues that affect regional security, whether bilateral or multilateral in nature, need to be managed together for the good of the whole Asean community.

Asean leaders must, therefore, find common purpose to help develop an effective framework to resolve these kinds of disputes.

In the end, the options, short of war, in the South China Sea are limited.

China and the Asean countries can put aside their competing claims and jointly work to exploit the resources of the South China Sea, as Malaysia and Thailand have done, or resort to international arbitration.

The former could well lead to a real zone of peace, cooperation and prosperity and cement the already burgeoning relations between China and the Asean countries. The latter is bound to leave sore losers and a divided region.

For China, a win-win solution with Asean will also undercut efforts by other powers to exploit regional fears of China in an attempt to build new alliances aimed at Beijing.

Whatever it is, the worst thing Asean and China can do is to let the issue fester.

By Dennis Ignatius Diplomatically Speaking

> Datuk Dennis Ignatius is a 36-year veteran of the Malaysian foreign service. He has served in London, Beijing and Washington and was ambassador to Chile and Argentina. He was twice Undersecretary for American Affairs. He retired as High Commis­sioner to Canada in July 2008.

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 Philippine and Chinese officials are holding talks on the stand-off at the Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal)

Dialogue 20120414 China & Phillippines ships standoff CCTV News - CNTV English

The Philippines and China in troubled waters

By CHOW HOW BAN, The Star

China attaches great importance to friendly ties with countries around the South China Sea but a recent altercation between Chinese fishermen and the Philippines Navy in the disputed Huangyan Island may turn into a full-scale war.

TENSION is rising in the South China Sea. China’s navy is ready to hit back if a clash between several Chinese fishing boats and a Filipino naval vessel in the waters of Huangyan Island cannot be resolved diplomatically,

Chinese patriots have been flooding the media with provocative comments stating that they are ready to go to war.

On Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in Manila received a report that the 12 Chinese fishing boats that sailed into a lagoon in Huangyan Island (or internationally known as Scarborough Shoal) to shelter from bad weather were challenged by the Warship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar.

Twelve from the navy warship, six of whom were armed, boarded the Chinese vessels and apparently harassed the fishermen. Later, two Chinese patrol ships, Haijian 75 and Haijian 84, arrived and prevented the Philippines navy from detaining the fishermen.

On Thursday, the Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was quoted by Manila Bulletin as saying that its warship had left Scarborough Shoal back to Poro Point for refuelling and re-provision of food.

Fishing for trouble: An April 10 photo showing members of the Philippine Army inspecting one of the eight Chinese fishing boats in the Scarborough Shoal — Reuters/Philippine Army

However, the Philippines Navy Flag officer-in-command Vice-Admiral Alexander Pama said the vessel was just relieved for operational reasons and would play a supporting role until the Philippines Coast Guard took over maritime law enforcement duties.

He stressed that the departure of the Gregorio del Pilar should not be construed as a retreat on the part of the Philippines government.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said they had sent law-enforcement ships rather than naval ships to back up the existing patrol ships and safeguard Chinese fishermen in the area.

The Chinese government demanded that the Filipino ships leave the area as it violated China’s sovereignty over Huangyan Island.

In a counter-claim, the Philippines accused the fishermen of being there illegally, saying that the area is in its territory by virtue of it being part of its Exclusive Economic Zone as recognised by international law.

A Netizen, on a Chinese forum, said the fact that China was acting too rationally in the South China Sea dispute had led to the intemperate conduct of its rivals.

“A reminder to the Chinese government and military: 1.3 billion people have raised you all but we have lost almost all the islands in the South China Sea,” another Netizen said.

“If you cannot safeguard South China Sea, you will become the culprits in Chinese history.”

A Chinese military fan called La Te wrote in cankaoa.com that in every Chinese mind the war in the South China Sea was inevitable but the question is how to fight the battle if it did indeed takes place.

He said that among the more than 50 major islands in the Spratlys in the South China Sea, China and Taiwan had control over eight while the others were occupied by Vietnam (29), the Philippines (eight) and Malaysia (five).

Although Brunei had sent troops to Louisa Reef in 1990 before, it did not declare its sovereignty over the reef.

In its editorial, Global Times said China had never thought of resolving the South China Sea issue by force and that China had the patience to sort out the matter via negotiations.

“If the Philippines and Vietnam really want to fight this sea battle, then they should fire the first shot.

China will certainly fight to the finish and give them a painful lesson of going to war with China,” the newspaper said.

China Daily said the Philippines and Vietnam had gained considerable economic benefits from the South China Sea by illegally tapping the rich deposits of oil and natural gas in the area since the late 1970s.

It said Manila and Hanoi should stop coveting interests that they are not entitled to.

“China attaches great importance to maintaining friendly ties with countries in the region, including the Philippines and Vietnam, and it has always exercised the utmost restraint as it desires a stable peripheral environment.”

Dialogue 20120416 Philippines-US war games CCTV News - CNTV English

US and Philippines begin South China Sea drills   

By Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic Correspondent

Joint military exercises between the US and the Philippines are getting under way in the South China Sea, even as Manila remained locked in a stand-off with Beijing over a disputed shoal. 

The annual exercises, called Balikatan, are due to run until 27 April.

This year they are taking place off Palawan, near parts of the South China Sea both Manila and Beijing claim.

Meanwhile Philippine and Chinese vessels remain at the Scarborough Shoal, a week after the deadlock began.

The Philippines said its warship found eight Chinese fishing vessels at the shoal - which both sides claim - when it was patrolling the area on 8 April.

When navy personnel boarded the Chinese fishing vessels on Tuesday they found a large amount of illegally-caught fish and coral, it said.

Two Chinese surveillance ships then arrived in the area, preventing the navy from making arrests.

 

Incidents in the South China Sea involving fishing boats or energy survey vessels are becoming more frequent, demonstrating the lack of any common rules of the road to resolve competing territorial claims.

China insists that its rights in areas like the disputed Spratly Islands are paramount, despite rival claims from the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries too.

The government in Manila is taking steps to modernise its small naval and air forces. But it is looking to Washington to help balance China's growing power.

Two decades after US forces were evicted from their biggest base in the Pacific, there has been talk of a renewed US military presence. The fact that the joint exercises are being held on the island of Palawan - the closest Philippines territory to the Spratlys - will doubtless irritate China.

But the Philippines government must walk a tightrope here - China is its third largest trading partner. It wants to defend its corner but doesn't want to provoke a crisis with Beijing.

Attempts to resolve the stand-off do not as yet appear to have been successful. 

The Philippine warship has been replaced by a coast guard vessel and the Chinese fishermen are reported to have gone, but two Chinese vessels remain there and a Chinese aircraft overflew the Philippine ship on Sunday, officials in Manila said.

"The stalemate remains. Both sides are in touch with each other," Philippine foreign ministry spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement on Sunday.

'New context'
 
The joint exercises are taking place in a different area, to the southwest of the shoal. Some 7,000 troops will be taking part.

A Philippine military spokesman said that the exercises were unrelated to events at Scarborough Shoal.

The focus of the exercises would be on "improving security, counter-terrorism and humanitarian and disaster response", Major Emmanuel Garcia said.

At the opening ceremony, the Philippines' armed forces chief Jessie Dellosa hailed the joint exercise as ''timely and mutually beneficial''.

"The conduct of this annual event reflects the aspirations to further relations with our strategic ally, a commitment that has to be nurtured especially in the context of the evolving challenges in the region,'' he said.

The exercises take place every year but, reports the BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus, this year they are different because the context within which they are taking place has changed.

China's maritime power is growing and the Philippines - along with many other small countries in the region - is worried.

It wants to bolster its own defences and underline its growing ties with Washington, our correspondent says, and the US sees these exercises as an opportunity to demonstrate its renewed interest in Pacific security.

Six countries claim competing sovereignty over areas in the South China Sea, which is believed to contain huge deposits of oil and gas.

Along with China and the Philippines, they are Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China's claim includes almost the entire South China Sea, well into what the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea recognises as the 200-mile-from-shore Exclusive Economic Zones of other claimants.

That has led to occasional flare-ups and to competition to occupy islands, reefs and sandbars.

 

  Filipino students attack US embassy to protest war games near South China Sea

By Associated Press

Left-wing protesters in the Philippines have splattered paint on the seal of the US Embassy to demand a pullout of American troops taking part in annual war games.

About 70 student activists took police and embassy guards by surprise early Monday when they threw blue-and-red paint at the seaside mission's main gate and scrawled 'US troops out now.' 
They also chipped away letters from the bronze signage and burned a mock American flag.

outrage: Students attacked the US Embassy sign in Manila to protest war games the Filipino military is conducting with American forces

No arrests were made as protesters outnumbered police and protestors later walked away.
US and Philippine military officials say nearly 7,000 American and Filipino troops have begun two weeks of major military exercises but they stress that China is not an imaginary target.

Philippine army Maj Emmanuel Garcia said Monday that the annual drills, called Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder, will include combat maneuvers involving the mock retaking by US-backed Filipino troops of an oil rig supposedly seized by terrorists near the South China Sea.

US Marine Lt Col Curtis Hill says most other events will focus on humanitarian missions and disaster-response drills.

Beijing has protested military drills involving Americans near the South China Sea, where it is locked with the Philippines and four other nations in territorial rifts.

Flag burning: About 100 students turned out to the protest and called for an end to the military relationship between the US and the Philippines 

The standoff escalated as three Chinese fishing boats and one Chinese naval vessel left the disputed area Friday.

Problems began on Sunday when Manila dispatched its largest warship, a US Hamilton-class cutter, to Scarborough Shoal, a group of rocky outcrops off the main Philippine island of Luzon, after it spotted eight Chinese fishing boats anchored in the area.

The shoal, which is crossed by major shipping lanes, is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves as well as fish stocks and other comercially-attractive marine life.
   
On Friday, Philippine officials confirmed that three Chinese fishing boats had left the area, but said five other Chinese boats remained. It was unclear whether they carried illegal catches, they added.

Damage: A student helps deface the seal outside the U.S. embassy building

Officials had earlier said that giant clams, coral and live sharks were illegally harvested from waters surrounding the Philippine island of Luzon.

'We are watching five fishing vessels that are still collecting coral in that area,' Lieutenant General Anthony Alcantara, chief of the army's northern Luzon command, told reporters on Friday.

Asked if the three fishing vessels which left had carried illegal catches, he said: 'I have no data on that.'

China also withdrew one of its three naval ships from the area on Friday, a day after a Philippine warship pulled out to be replaced by a coast guard vessel. Manila's move had been interpreted as a sign that tensions were easing as diplomats rushed to find a solution to the dispute.

But on Friday the Philippine navy sent a ship into the area to back up a coast guard cutter tasked to enforce the country's maritime laws, suggesting tensions were still high.

'The mandate is to support our coast guard there,' Alcantara said.

'Our mandate is to take care of our own people there and sovereignty.'

US won't take sides in South China Sea dispute

Updated: 2012-05-02 12:24

The United States said on Monday that it would not take sides in the Huangyan Island standoff between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea and reiterated support for a diplomatic resolution to the territorial dispute.

Washington does not take sides on competing sovereignty claims there, but has a national interest in maintaining freedom of navigation as well as peace and stability, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, after meeting top diplomatic and defense officials from the Philippines.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin attended the 2+2 dialogue with their US counterparts, Clinton and Leon Panetta, in Washington.

"The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all those involved for resolving the various disputes that they encounter," Clinton said. "We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its claims."

Gazmin alluded to tension with China over islands in the South China Sea as he called for the need to "intensify our mutual trust to uphold maritime security and the freedom of navigation".

"We should be able to work together to build a minimum, credible defense posture for the Philippines, especially in upholding maritime security," Gazmin said.

The Philippines and China have been embroiled in the Huangyan Island dispute, with both nations stationing vessels there for nearly three weeks to assert their sovereignty.

China on Monday highlighted remarks made by the Philippine president about de-escalating the tension over the island, urging the Philippines to "match its words with deeds" and return to the proper pathway of diplomatic solutions.

Speaking of the tension, Philippine President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III said he had issued instructions to his military, telling them not to intensify the issue.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin stressed that there is no change in China's stance of using diplomatic channels to peacefully resolve the issue, which was triggered when a Philippine warship harassed Chinese fishermen and raised concerns over China's sovereignty of the island.

The Philippine officials also stressed diplomacy when asked what aid they had requested from Washington, saying that Manila sought to bring the South China Sea issue to international legal bodies.

Clinton reaffirmed the US commitment to the 60-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines, calling the Philippines a country "at the heart" of the new US strategy toward the Asia-Pacific.

Washington would help improve the Philippines' "maritime presence and capabilities" with the transfer of a second high-endurance (coast guard) cutter this year, Panetta said.

The US emphasis on neutrality and a diplomatic resolution would encourage Manila to be more restrained on the Huangyan Island issue, said Fan Jishe, a US studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Washington doesn't want territorial disputes between its Asian allies and China to be obstacles to China-US relations," he said.

Xinhua and Reuters contributed to this story.

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