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Activities of Claimants

China

China completed two large lighthouses in the South China Sea

China has completed the construction of two lighthouses in the disputed South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as tensions in the region mount over Beijing’s maritime ambitions. A completion ceremony was held for the lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef in the Spratly islands, Xinhua said late on October 9.

Claimants in the disputed water, including Vietnam and Philippines, have repeatedly opposed the constructions; the United States also raised its opposition to that unilateral activity of China amid tension rising in the region.  

The constructions were reported, according to Xinhua, is to help maritime search and rescue, disaster relief, environmental protection and navigational security. It has also said it will continue to build other installations to better serve countries in the region and vessels navigating those waters.

China lambasted US’s plan of sending ships within 12nm of China’s artificial islands

According to latest news, U.S. navy is about to send a surface ship inside China’s territorial man-made island chain in South China Sea to uphold the freedom of navigation and overflight. Speaking in a press conference on October 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China expresses serious concern about the plan. She said “we are seriously concerned about the relevant report. It needs to be pointed out that China always respects and safeguards the freedom of navigation and overflight that all countries enjoy in the South China Sea as well as other places around the world according to international law. However, there is no way for us to condone infringement of China's territorial sea and airspace by any country under the pretext of "maintaining the freedom of navigation and overflight". We urge relevant party to refrain from saying or doing anything provocative and act responsibly in maintaining regional peace and stability.”

The Philippines

China’s aggressive claim makes the South China Sea to become its own lake

In a current interview with the Foreign Policy on October 10, The Foreign Minister of the Philippines, Albert del Rosario put it bluntly “China’s aim is to fulfill their expansionist agenda. They obviously have one. It is both economic and military. It’s economic because there is now competition in the world for resources. It is military because they are trying to establish defense corridors. They want to be a maritime power but to be that, you need your own lake. We think they have selected the South China Sea as their lake.” He urged “the international community should be vigilant about what is happening in the South China Sea because it has the potential to change the international order.”

The United Stated

U.S. warns against 'egregious' restrictions in contested South China Seas

On October 6 in a maritime conference in Sydney,  Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a strongly worded that "it's my sense that some nations view freedom of the seas as up for grabs, as something that can be taken down and redefined by domestic law or by reinterpreting international law." He added "Some nations continue to impose superfluous warnings and restrictions on freedom of the seas in their exclusive economic zones and claim territorial water rights that are inconsistent with (UNCLOS). This trend is particularly egregious in contested waters." Swift stressed that “the US continue to exercise freedom of the seas for all nations, because we know from painful past experience, to shirk this responsibility and obligation, puts much more at risk than any one nation's maritime interests."

The U.S. Navy will challenge Chinese territorial claims in South China Sea

On October 8, the Navy Times, cited from military officials, said that the U.S. Navy is preparing to send a surface ship inside the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims for its man-made island chain, an action that could take place within days but awaits final approval from the Obama administration. The plan to send a warship through the contested space has been rumored since May. In another source, Financial Times cited from an official that the manoeuvres were expected to start in the next two weeks. In the following day, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral Harry Harris, declined to say whether the United States would carry out the plan. But he made clear it was an option he had presented to Obama and said the United States must carry out freedom of navigation patrols throughout the Asia-Pacific.

Regional Snapshots

The Philippines: NGO files case vs China reclamation

A Non-Government Organization led by former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez, on October 7, filed a letter-complaint in the United Nations (UN) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) against China’s reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea, citing its negative impact on marine resources.

In his letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, Golez, who chairs the Movement and Alliance to Resist China’s Aggression (Marcha), urged the agencies to “investigate and take appropriate action” on China’s reclamation activities which have caused the destruction of coral reefs in the South China Sea, more particularly in Mischief Reef, Subi Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Johnson South Reef, Gaven Reefs and Hughes Reef. Golez noted that according to marine biology experts, the damage caused to the coral reefs in the area can affect the lives of around 300 million people who depend on the South China Sea, which accounts for 10 percent of the world’s seafood supply.

Philippines, US hone raid skills

Filipino and United States forces con­ducted a joint am­phibi­ous raid ex­er­cise on October 5 on the shores of Cavite prov­ince, im­me­di­ately south of Manila, with the aim of hon­ing their in­ter­op­er­abil­ity skills amid pre­vail­ing se­cu­rity chal­lenges in the na­tion. The par­tic­i­pat­ing troops, who were trans­ported us­ing two river­ine craft and two rub­ber boats, sim­u­lated a res­cue op­er­a­tion on an is­land that had been taken over by en­e­mies. The 45-minute drill, ex­e­cuted by more than 40 Filipino and US marines in­side the train­ing base of the Philip­pine Marine Corps, is part of the eight-day Philip­pine Am­phibi­ous Land­ing Ex­er­cise 2015 that ends October 9.

US boosts maritime law enforcement aid to 4 countries

The United States on October 8 announced it had quadrupled support to Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia to boost their law enforcement capabilities at sea, but stressed that the move was not connected to a bitter regional maritime dispute with Beijing. "This initiative at this time constitutes more than $100 million dollars of US assistance for maritime law enforcement to these four nations," US Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield said in a telephone press conference from Washington. The aid builds on an initial $25 million pledge announced by Secretary of State John Kerry in December 2013. "The initiative is completely transparent. We are doing nothing behind closed doors,"  Brownfield added.

THE EAST SEA STUDIES