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| Southeast Asia |
| Vietnam, Philippines slam China garrison plan |
| 2012-07-25 |
| HANOI: Vietnam and the Philippines on Tuesday lashed out at China’s moves to establish a military garrison in the South China Sea, amid escalating tensions in the disputed waters. Hanoi filed a formal protest with Beijing against the plan outlined by China this week to station troops in Sansha in the disputed Paracel Islands, saying it “violates international law.” Manila, which is involved in a dispute over another archipelago, the Spratly Islands, also weighed into the row, summoning the Chinese ambassador to lodge a complaint against the garrison announcement. An intensifying spat over the South China Sea — the site of key shipping routes and thought to have vast oil and gas reserves — has seen a barrage of diplomatic moves between the countries with competing territorial claims. Taiwan, one of several claimants to portions of the Spratly chain, plans to boost firepower at its base on that archipelago’s biggest island Taiping from next month, Taipei’s coastguard said on Tuesday. Longer-range artillery and mortars are to be added to existing weaponry at the site, in a move that could further stoke tensions in the region. China says it owns much of the South China Sea, while Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia each claim portions. The disputes have become particularly acrimonious in recent weeks, with Vietnam and the Philippines criticizing what they call Chinese encroachment. Beijing’s garrison plan “violates international law, seriously violates Vietnam’s sovereignty... and is invalid,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi told AFP. China attracted Hanoi’s ire — and sparked a series of rare protests in the Vietnamese capital — when it last month designated Sansha as its administrative center for the Paracels and the Spratly Islands. The state-backed China National Offshore Oil Corporation also announced it was welcoming bids to explore oil blocks in the disputed waters, a week after Vietnam adopted a law placing the Spratlys under its sovereignty. Nghi told AFP Tuesday that China must revoke its “wrongdoings” and urged “friendly and cooperative” relations in order to “maintain peace and stability” in the South China Sea. China and South Vietnam once administered different parts of the Paracels but after a brief conflict in 1974 Beijing took control of the entire group of islands. Vietnam still holds several of the larger Spratlys. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TAIWAN TO SHIP ARTILLERY, MORTARS TO SPRATLYS [Taiping Island]. Until the day when Beijing does de facto re-unify and achieves sovereign control oer Taiwan, IT WILL VIEW TAIWAN + ASEAN NATIONS AS PROXIES FOR THE US = US-WEST. Lest we fergit, CHINESE PERTS-MILBLOGGERS > argue that Taiwan is actually a territory of the US by Adverse Possession by virtue of its handover to the US by Japan after Japan's surrender in WW2, + then later by Taiwan not being turned over by the US to Chiang Kai-Shek + Kuomintang/Nationalist China before or during the post-1945 Chinese Civil War agz Mao Zedong [ aka Mao Tse-tung] + his Commies??? IOW, TAIWAN MAY BE SENDING ITS MIL ASSSETS TO THE SPRATLYS, BUT FOR WHOM? versus * BHARAT RAKSHAK > US MISSLE SHIELD TO ENCIRCLE CHINESE ECONOMIC TIGER. * WORLD NEWS > CHINA SURE TO OPPOSE [Japan]SENKAKUS PLAN. Incorporation of Disputed Islands into Tokyo Metro = akin to effec Nationalization by Japan. * SAME > PHILIPPINES PRESIDENT [Aquino] WON'T BACK DOWN FROM TERRITORIAL DISPUTE WID CHINA, [plans to] BOLSTER MILITARY. PHIL STAR = AQUINO: PHILIPPINES ISN'T BACKING OFF [down] IN WEST PHILIPPINES SEA. * TOPIX > [Real Clear Politics] CHINA ITCHING FOR FIGHT WITH JAPAN. * DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Philippines = Dept. of Foreign Affairs] DFA: CHINESE BOATS [+ Barriers]BLOCKING PHILIPPINE VESSELS FROM PANATAG SHOAL. PHIL DFA Under-Secretary Erlinda Basilio: > China has set up barriers or obstacles to Panatag's fish-rich inner lagoon using long fishing nets, wires, + old crafts. > CHINA HAS SEEMING RENEGED ON ITS PRIOR COMMITMENT TO REMOVE BARRIER + WITHDRAW ITS SHIPS FROM INSIDE THE SHOAL. * SAME > PHILIPPINE STAR = CHINA EYES AIRSTRIP NEAR [PHIL-controlled]PAG-ASA ISLAND, i.e. on Subi Reef 12 nautical miles away. * WORLD MIL FORUM > LUO YUAN: CHINA MUST DEVEL`OP EFFECTIVE GROUND, AEROSPACE, + BALLISTIC MISSLE DEFENSES FOR THREE NEW "SASHIS" IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, NOT JUST NAVAL. * TOPIX > NATIONS AT IMPASSE OVER SOUTH CHINA SEA, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP [ICG = think-tank] WARNS. * RELATED SAME > CHINA'S NEWEST CITY RAISES THREAT OF CONFLICT IN SOUTH CHINA SEA. * CHINA DAILY FORUM > PSYCHOLOGICAL VICTORY FOR CHINA [e.g. South China Sea disputes] MAY LEAD FROM BLOCKADE TO WIDER ANNEXATION. A harder Govt. line from Beijing, wid high poten for unilateral LAND-GRABBINESS. IOW, an INTOLERANT, MILPOL AGGRESSIVE OR BELLIGERENT NUCLEAR CHINA + PLA. No more "SOFT POWER/DIPLOMACY" or "CLAIM-SHARING/JOINT-NESS", ETC. - D *** NG IT, iff Youse all have something to say, TELL IT TO THE PLA! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-07-25 01:34 |