(BGF) – Tensions escalated as China enforced a new regulation requiring foreign fishermen to obtain Beijing’s permission before operating in South China Sea, particularly on waters close to China that are also claimed by Vietnam. Hanoi reacted, and insisted its claim that ” any foreign activities not approved by Vietnam in this area are illegal and invalid.” The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said this development “threaten the peace and stability of the region”, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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China Sea Rules to Raise Tensions With Vietnam
Jan. 10, 2014 | By Brian Spegele in Beijing
(The Wall Street Journal) —Enforcement of China’s new regulation requiring foreign fishermen to obtain Beijing’s consent before operating in the disputed South China Sea will focus on waters close to China that are also claimed by Vietnam, an official said, potentially setting China on a collision course with Hanoi.
(Photo Credit: Tuoi tre Newspaper)
The regulation, which was enacted by China’s island province of Hainan on Jan. 1, is the latest effort by Beijing to bolster territorial claims and is adding to tensions over contested islets, freedom of navigation and rights to fisheries and other resources in a sea vital to world trade. The Philippines and Vietnam this week criticized the measure, as has the U.S. State Department, which called it “provocative and potentially dangerous.”
In recent months, China has stepped up muscle-flexing over its territorial claims, declaring an air-control zone over the East China Sea that aggravated a dispute with Japan and challenged a fledgling thaw with South Korea. The latest moves in the South China Sea increases prospects for further standoffs with its southern neighbors.
Wu Shicun, a delegate to Hainan’s legislature and former head of the province’s foreign-affairs office, said Friday that the measure in principle applied to China’s entire territorial claim in the South China Sea, which extends to near the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia.
In practice, however, Mr. Wu said that Chinese enforcement would focus on policing the waters near the Paracel Islands, just south of Hainan, and not farther away. Mr. Wu said punishments—likely including fines and the seizure of catches—would be strengthened against fishermen who entered the area without permission. He said Vietnam has been encouraging its fishermen to enter the area.
“The goal is to make them not dare to come back,” said Mr. Wu, who is also president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies. “If you violate the rules, you will pay a high price.” He said the U.S. had grown too worked up about the new measure, which he said was aimed at better regulating the fishing industry.
China has exercised de facto control of the Paracels after ousting Vietnam in a naval battle in 1974 and has since built up a sizable government and military presence.
Hanoi hasn’t relinquished its claim. Luong Thanh Nghi, spokesman for Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry, reiterated Friday that Vietnam had “indisputable sovereignty” over the Paracels and Spratlys, another island group farther to the south, claimed in part or full also by China, the Philippines and others. “Any foreign activities not approved by Vietnam in this area are illegal and invalid,” he said, in response to a media query.
Other South China Sea claimants include Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Verbal sparring and outright confrontations have been on the rise in recent years as a more powerful China asserts claims it has long made on paper and as other countries resist. In March, Vietnam accused China of firing on a Vietnamese fishing boat operating near the Paracels. China’s Defense Ministry later said Chinese sailors fired two flares as a warning and hadn’t attacked the Vietnamese.
On Friday, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said it was “gravely concerned” by the new regulation. “This development escalates tensions, unnecessarily complicates the situation in the South China Sea, and threatens the peace and stability of the region,” the statement read.
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