by Admin | Jun 12, 2014 | News
(BGF) – The Bloomberg News shared a story of Vietnamese Lt. Colonel Phan Duy Cuong about his combat with Chinese vessels in waters near islands claimed by both nations in the South China Sea. It also calls the situation as “playing a daily game of cat and mouse” in rough seas as China shields the rig with its vessels.
Click here to read the full story or visit the Bloomberg News website.
China Plays Cat and Mouse With Vietnam Coast Guard on Rig
May 17, 2014
A Chinese coast guard vessel, right, fires a water cannon at a Vietnamese vessel off the coast of Vietnam. (Photo Credit: Vietnam Coast Guard).
From his Vietnamese Coast Guard boat at night, Lt. Colonel Phan Duy Cuong can see the yellow lights of an oil rig 10 nautical miles away. Owned by a Chinese company, it sits in waters near islands claimed by both nations in the South China Sea.
Dozens of ships clutter the area, playing a daily game of cat and mouse in rough seas as China shields the rig with its vessels. At stake is the resource-rich waters around the contested Paracel Islands, in a dispute that has soured ties between the two Communist nations as China steps up its territorial assertions in the region.
An officer on Coast Guard vessel No. 8003, Cuong said his boat motored to 6.5 nautical miles from the rig today before being flanked and chased off by two Chinese coast guard ships that came as close as 400 meters (1,312 feet), blasting horns and playing recordings stating China’s sovereignty over the area. Four times the Chinese boats cut in front of the Vietnamese ship, he said.
Cuong said his vessel, which has been at sea since May 5 with 50 crew, got to 6 nautical miles yesterday from the rig before being forced back, and he saw a Vietnamese ship rammed. Crew members in the cabin relayed the boat’s position to superiors onshore as they pulled back.
Click here to continue reading.
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – On May 16, more than 100 Filipinos and Vietnamese residents in the Philippines have staged a joint protest in front of Chinese consulate in Manila, demanding that China stop oil drilling in waters claimed by Vietnam, as the Voice of America reported.
Click here to read the full story or visit the VOA News website.
Filipinos, Vietnamese Protest China in Manila
May 16, 2014
Filipino activists and Vietnamese nationals display placards and chant anti-China slogans as they march outside the Chinese Consulate in Manila’s Makati financial district, May 16, 2014. (Photo Credit: VOA News)
Manila, (VOA) – Filipinos and Vietnamese residents in the Philippines have staged a joint protest against China’s incursions into South China Sea territories claimed by their countries.
More than 100 protesters picketed the Chinese consulate Friday in the capital, Manila, demanding that China stop oil drilling in waters claimed by Vietnam.
Chinese and Vietnamese ships have been locked in a standoff since China deployed an oil rig last month in a part of the South China Sea that Vietnam claims is within its exclusive economic zone. The two sides have attacked each other with water cannons, raising fears of an armed military clash.
Read more here
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – As the United Press International (UPI) reported, Nguyen Quang Ngoc, vice chairman of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, said he has an atlas from the late 1800s that shows the territory where China’s drilling rig HD-981 is positioned is under Vietnamese authority.
Click here to read the full story or visit UPI website.
No basis to China’s South China Sea claims, Vietnam says
May 14, 2014 | By Daniel J. Graeber
HANOI, (UPI) —China has no sovereignty over waters in the South China Sea where it has deployed government vessels alongside an oil rig, a Vietnamese historian said.
China National Offshore Oil Corp. deployed drilling rig HD-981 about 120 miles off the coast of Vietnam in disputed waters in early May. Both sides make competing claims over the territory, though the Chinese government has been accused of taking provocative action in response.
Nguyen Quang Ngoc, vice chairman of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, said he has an atlas from the late 1800s that shows the territory in question is under Vietnamese authority.
“China has no sovereignty over the region,” he said.
No known map, he added, shows Chinese territory extending that far south.
The Chinese government accused its Western adversaries, the United States in particular, of being on the wrong side of the debate with its criticism of Beijing’s reaction to Vietnam’s claims.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said during her regular press briefing Tuesday the stance from Beijing, “in our view, undermines peace and stability in the region.”
Vietnamese nationals rallied in the United States, Europe, and at home to protest China’s drilling rig, telling Beijing to keep its “hands off Vietnam.”
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – In a commentary published in People Daily, China affirmed it has “indisputable sovereign rights” over the Nansha Islands, including the Half Moon Shoal (known as Hasa-Hasa Shoal by the Philippines) and reminded the Philippines to bear consequences for deliberate provocation, referring to the arrest of 11 Chinese fishermen off the Half Moon Shoal on May 7. China called the action “illegal and invalid”, and would be regarded as “direct infringements of China’s sovereignty.”
Click here to read the full article or visit the People Daily website.
Manila to bear consequences for deliberate provocation
May 14, 2014 | By Zhu Dongyang
Philippine Maritime Police arrested 11 Chinese fishermen and their boat off Hasa-Hasa Shoal on May, 7. (Photo Credit: The Philippine Daily Inquirer)
BEIJING, May 14 — In a reckless move that further undermined the peace of South China Sea, Manila went ahead with a premeditated plot to provoke Beijing in a vain wish to infringe upon China’s sovereignty.
Last week, Philippine police detained 11 Chinese fishermen and their boat near China’s Half Moon Shoal in the South China Sea on the grounds that they poached sea turtles.
But no matter the allegation was true or not, Manila was wrong in the first place because China has indisputable sovereign rights over the Nansha Islands and the adjacent waters, including the Half Moon Shoal, where the incident occurred.
Thus any actions taken by the Philippines against the Chinese fishermen are illegal and invalid and would be regarded as direct infringements of China’s sovereignty.
The timing of the incident is tricky, as it happened not long after U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent visit to Manila, during which the two sides reasserted their military alliance.
The provocation also came days before the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), during which the emboldened Philippines, together with Vietnam, launched a failed bid to pit the regional bloc against Beijing over territory claims.
Click here to continue reading.
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China wanted the US to “stop fueling provocations by relevant parties” in a telephone conversation with US Secretary John Kerry, as the China’s ECNS News reported. China also urged Washington to “stand firmly”, “be cautious in words and actions”.
China has become more aggressive in its actions over conflicts with Vietnam and the Philippines in order to claim its sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea.
Click here to read the full article or visit the ECNS website.
Stop fueling maritime provocation, Beijing tells Washington
May 14, 2014 By Wang Fan
Chinese maritime surveillance ships fire water cannon to Vietnamese fisheries surveillance ship (Photo Credit: Vietnamese’s Department of Foreign Affairs)
Beijing described Washington’s latest remarks on the South China Sea on Tuesday as “inspiring belligerency” after US Secretary of State John Kerry said China’s use of an oil rig in its territorial waters was provacative.
Analysts said China left no doubt that it was clearly warning the United States to abandon “hypocrisy” and to stop publicly backing countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines on issues regarding China’s sovereign territory.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry in a telephone conversation that China wanted the US to “stop fueling provocations by relevant parties”.
Beijing urged Washington to “stand firmly by its previous commitments, be cautious in words and actions” and observe the maritime situation around China in “an objective and fair manner”, Wang said.
Kerry said the US had no intention of judging when it came to the sovereignty of a territorial issue and Washington hoped that all parties concerned handled issues properly and maintained the peace and stability of the region.
Teng Jianqun, an expert at the China Institute of International Studies, said the US had already fully engaged itself in a range of problems that had flared up in the Asia-Pacific region, at the expense of its relationship with China.
Click here to continue reading.
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – As Ankit Panda in The Diplomat commented on China’s decision to move oil rig HD-981 accompanied by 80 coast guard ships in Vietnam’s waters is to test the mettle of ASEAN states and the United States, and it gives Beijing an opportunity to gauge the international response to China asserting its maritime territorial claims over the South China Sea.
Click here to read the full story or visit The Diplomat website.
Why Did China Set Up an Oil Rig Within Vietnamese Waters?
May 13, 2014 | By Ankit Panda
(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The who, what, where, when and how of China’s HD-981 oil rig foray into Vietnamese waters have been addressed comprehensively, both by commentators here at The Diplomat and elsewhere. The enduring question, as with many of China’s provocative actions in the Asia-Pacific, remains why? The opacity of China’s internal decision-making processes makes it rather difficult to conclusively answer that question, but a good amount of evidence suggests that the oil rig crisis with Vietnam was manufactured to test the mettle of ASEAN states and the United States. It gives Beijing an opportunity to gauge the international response to China asserting its maritime territorial claims.
As Carl Thayer points out on this blog and M. Taylor Fravel said in an interview with The New York Times, the China National Offshore Oil Company’s decision to move oil rig HD-981 was a premeditated move of territorial assertion. CNOOC may be a state-owned enterprise but the decision to move this $1 billion asset into an area with questionable hydrocarbon reserves while also inciting a diplomatic crisis speaks to the planned, political nature of this move. The fact that approximately 80 PLAN and Chinese coast guard ships accompanied the rig reinforces the notion that China was making a strategic push to assert its territorial claims in the region.
The question of why China chose to escalate with Vietnam specifically is perhaps slightly easier to answer. Several analysts have already noted that China caught the world off-guard by choosing to escalate its territorial dispute with Vietnam given that relations between the two countries were improving as recently as fall 2013. Additionally, a certain degree of camaraderie exists between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For China to suddenly risk a relatively stable bilateral relationship through an underlying rivalry seemed brazen and irresponsible.
Click here to continue reading
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – As the Malay Mail Online reported, at a regular briefing, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted to US accusation of Chinese actions as “provocative”: “It is the US coming in and making a series of erroneous remarks about the issue in the waters, encouraging certain countries’ threatening and provocative behaviour.”
The state-run China Daily also said that Beijing warned its territorial challengers, particularly the Philippines, to pay an “unaffordable price if it persists to threaten China’s national interest.
Click here to read the full story or visit the Malay Mail Online website.
China accuses US of emboldening maritime rivals
May 13, 2014
Chinese ships hit Vietnam Coast Guard Ship (Photo Credit: dantri.com.vn)
BEIJING, May 13 — China accused the United States today of emboldening Asian nations in their territorial disputes with Beijing, as diplomatic exchanges over the latest maritime row grew sharper.
China earlier this month moved an oil-drilling rig into South China Sea waters also claimed by Vietnam.
Hanoi last week said Chinese vessels had rammed its patrol ships and turned water cannon on them near the site. Beijing said in turn that Vietnamese vessels had initiated the rammings, forcing its ships to respond.
In a phone call to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called Beijing’s actions “provocative”, the State Department said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted at a regular briefing Today: “It is the US coming in and making a series of erroneous remarks about the issue in the waters, encouraging certain countries’ threatening and provocative behaviour.
“We hope that US can consider carefully, if it really wants the Pacific to be pacific, then what role should the US be playing?”
In the telephone conversation, Wang urged the US “to be prudent in words and actions”, Hua said.
Washington has previously labelled China’s actions with the drilling rig as provocative, with Beijing rejecting the comments as “irresponsible” and “wrong”.
The confrontation over the drilling rig is the latest in a series of disputes between China and its Asian neighbours over territory in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
Among them is a growing row over disputed islands with Japan that has raised concerns of an unintended clash between the economic powerhouses.
China also claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines and is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits.
Click here to continue reading.
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – US Secretary John Kerry expressed “strong concerns” over recent disputes in the South China Sea between China and Vietnam and called China’s introduction of an oil rig and numerous government vessels in waters disputed with Vietnam was “provocative”, as BBC reported. In another meeting with the Singaporean foreign minister, Mr Kerry also called the Chinese move an “aggressive act”.
Click here to read the full story or visit the BBC website.
May 13, 2014
(Photo Credit: BBC News)
The US has warned China that moving a drilling rig into seas disputed with Vietnam was “provocative”.
In a telephone call, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi the US had “strong concerns” over recent developments.
Last week, Chinese and Vietnamese ships clashed over the drilling rig that China has placed in waters near the disputed Paracel Islands.
China and Manila are also at odds over overlapping territorial claims.
Beijing claims a U-shaped swathe of the South China Sea that covers areas other South East Asian nations say are their territory.
The issue has been rumbling in recent years amid an increasingly assertive stance from China over its claims.
Click here to continue reading.
by Admin | Jun 11, 2014 | News
(BGF) – The Economic Times reported that U.S Secretary of State John Kerry told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi over their phone call that Chinese actions over maritime dispute with Vietnam were “provocative”, and urged both sides to de-escalate tensions, resolve the dispute through peaceful means in accordance with international law.
Click here to read the full story or visit the Economic Times website.
US chides China over maritime dispute with Vietnam
May 13, 2014
U.S Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a meeting in April 2013. (Photo Credit: Reuters)
WASHINGTON: The United States told Beijing Monday that the movement last month of a Chinese oil rig and vessels into waters disputed with Vietnam was provocative, the State Department said.
Secretary of State John Kerry delivered the message in a telephone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
Maritime rows in the South China sea flared this month after China moved an oil drilling rig into waters also claimed by Hanoi.
Kerry emphasized the United States’ “strong concerns” over recent developments in the South China Sea.
“He said China’s introduction of an oil rig and numerous government vessels in waters disputed with Vietnam was provocative,” Psaki said in a statement.
“He urged both sides to de-escalate tensions, ensure safe conduct by their vessels at sea, and resolve the dispute through peaceful means in accordance with international law,” Psaki said.
