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Activities of the Claimants

China

China rebukes US envoy South China Sea comments

The Chinese Embassy in Manila on June 29th night assailed United States Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg for saying China is making "artificial" claims over the entirety of South China Sea. In a statement, Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhang Hua said it is objectionable that Goldberg made such a statement considering that the US does not have any role in the ongoing Philippines-China territorial dispute. "The Chinese Embassy expresses concern over the remarks made by US Ambassador Philip Goldberg at the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) on the South China Sea issue," said Zhang. "The US is not a party concerned in the dispute in the South China Sea, it has not ratified the Unclos either," he added. Also, Zhang noted that the US, including Goldberg, had also repeatedly stated that they are taking no position on competing claims on sovereignty over the disputes on the South China Sea. So instead of making such claims, Zhang said he had hoped Goldberg should have just stuck with the US' long-standing position on the territory dispute in the region. "It is our hope that it could do more to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, rather than the opposite," said Zhang.

Xi urges US to view China objectively

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The United States should objectively view China's national conditions and policies, President Xi Jinping told a former senior US official on July 2nd, ahead of a key bilateral dialogue. Analysts said Xi's meeting with a group of US business leaders led by former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, who is in Beijing to push forward a bilateral investment treaty, reveals Beijing's sincerity to narrow the gap in thought and strive for substantial progress in the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. "The two sides should expand joint interests, deepen cooperation, plant more flowers, not thorns, clear the interference and avoid suspicion and confrontation," Xi told the US guests at the Great Hall of the People. He also said China will stick to the path of peaceful development and shoulder its international duties. "We hope the US will objectively view China's basic national conditions as well as its domestic and foreign policies," Xi said. Xi also encouraged both sides to "make full use" of bilateral mechanisms such as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue to keep "injecting positive energy" into the key ties and bring tangible achievements.

Vietnam

Vietnam should prepare for all scenarios in China oil spat: Party chief

The chief of the Communist Party of Vietnam has said the country should prepare for all scenarios, including war, amid tension with China over an oil rig Beijing has unlawfully positioned in Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea since May 1st. “Many have asked what if war comes. We have to prepare for all possibilities. But we don’t want war and we’ll try to prevent it,” Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong told electors in Hanoi on July 1st. Trong said the Vietnamese government has consistently followed the policy of fighting through peaceful measures and fighting in compliance with international law and high-level agreements reached by the two nations. “We will use all peaceful measures, including legal action,” he stated.

President Truong Tan Sang visits fishermen, coast guard and fisheries surveillance forces in Da Nang

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President Truong Tan Sang has met with fishermen in Da Nang who have returned from their fishing session in Paracel islands. He praised the fishermen’s determination to stay on with their traditional fishing field in Paracel islands, saying that it helps national sovereignty protection. He reiterated the State’s policy to support fishermen in extended fishing trip and called for a complete chain in the processing and distribution of sea products. The President met and encouraged owner of fishing boat DNa 90152, which was rammed to sink by China on May 26th. The President asked fisheries surveillance and coast guard forces to uphold the nation’s heroic tradition in the struggle to protect national sovereignty in sea and islands.  

Vietnam's PM calls for preparation of lawsuit against China

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered relevant agencies to prepare documents for legal proceedings against China for illegally placing a drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters. According to a press release issued during a routine meeting of the central government in Hanoi on July 1st, the documents will be submitted to the country’s leaders for further consideration and approval. China’s placement of the US$1-billion Haiyang 981 oil rig inside Vietnam’s continent shelf and exclusive economic zone seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and international law, the release cites the Prime Minister as saying. As such, PM Dung has instructed relevant agencies to continue peaceful measures to press for China's withdrawal from Vietnamese waters.

Vietnam asks UN for South China Sea support

The head of Viet Nam's mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, has asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for help in presenting its argument against China's incursion into its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Specifically, Trung wants the UN to circulate two documents clarifying Viet Nam's position on China's placement of an oil rig in Viet Nam's waters in the South China Sea. Ambassador Trung said the documents also clarified Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Paracel islands and exposed the fallacies of China's claims. In the first document, Viet Nam presents legal arguments for its opposition to China's illegal placement of the oil rig, Haiyang Shiyou-981. The second document affirms Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Paracel islands and exposes China's historical and legal claims of sovereignty over the island (which China calls Xisha) as meritless.

Full text of the document

Vietnam persists with peaceful solution to South China Sea dispute

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China’s act of including the entire South China Sea in its expanded storm warning area cannot change the fact that Vietnam has adequate legal grounds and historical evidence to prove its sovereignty over the Paracel islands and Spraly islands, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh has said. In fielding questions submitted by reporters during the Foreign Ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi on July 3rd, the spokesman affirmed that after China illegally placed its Haiyang Shiyou drilling rig-981 in Vietnam’s waters, Vietnam has worked to maintain communication channels at various levels with China to deal with the issue by peaceful means on the grounds of international law. Exchanges and trade activities between the two countries are undergoing normally, he told the reporters. Binh informed that the Vietnamese law enforcement forces operating in the Chinese rig site have persistently deployed communication measures to demand the Chinese side withdraw its rig together with escort ships and aircraft from Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. They have taken moves to avoid Chinese vehicles’ aggressive acts. Such aggressive acts committed by the Chinese side have negatively impacted on maritime security and safety in the region, Binh stated.

China seizes Vietnamese ship with 6 fishermen off Paracel islands

Six Vietnamese fishermen and their boat, of central Quang Ngai province, were detained by Chinese vessels off Vietnam’s Paracel islands in the South China Sea on July 3rd, local authorities reported. The fishing boat seized was vessel QNg 94912 TS, owned by Vo Dat, a fisherman in Pho Thanh Commune of Duc Pho District, Phan Hien, the head of the communal Fisheries Association, said on July 4th. The communal People’s Committee said it reported the seizure to the district and provincial authorities on July 3rd for instructions, said Nguyen Ky, chairman of the committee. 

Vietnam asks China to clarify arrest of six fishermen

Vietnam on July 6th asked the Chinese Embassy to issue an official notice on geographic coordinates of the location where Chinese patrol ships seized a Vietnamese fishing boat with six fishermen aboard three days ago. The Chinese Embassy was also requested to explain why China made the seizure and arrested the fishermen, said Luong Thanh Quang, an official from the Vietnamese Consular Department.

The Philippines

PH hails Japan’s move to expand military role

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Japan’s move towards allowing “collective self-defense” was hailed by the Philippines as “a step in the right direction” in ensuring security challenges on the Asian region, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday. “The Philippines welcomes the valuable contributions Japan has been making for global and regional peace and stability,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a press conference. “We are confident that Japan will continue to play an important role in addressing our common security challenges. The Japanese Government has recognized the need for the international community to address such challenges, and the effort to clarify the constitutional basis for Japan’s role in this area is a step in the right direction,” he said.

Myanmar

China Reaches Out to Myanmar on Maritime Dispute

At first blush, Myanmar, hardly a naval power and not exactly a major diplomatic heavyweight, would seem an odd place for China to seek relief from its headaches in the South China Sea. “Xi Jinping pressed the issue,” said U Zaw Htay, a director of Mr. Thein Sein’s presidential office, of China and its problems in the South China Sea. But Myanmar’s leader stood firm, declining to take the side of China and pushing for a collegial approach to resolving the dispute, Mr. Zaw Htay said in a telephone interview. “Myanmar stands behind Asean on this issue,” Mr. Zaw Htay said.

US security advisor: we don’t want to see a bigger nation bullying a smaller nation

Speaking at a conference of U.S. foreign policy in Washington, Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, said that “Issues associated with territorial disputes, maritime security, have been a key focus not just in our bilateral conversations with China, but in the region more generally. And the principles we (the U.S.) apply to that are consistent to whatever country’s involved, which is we don’t want nations to try to resolve those disputes through coercion. And our point is simply that we don’t want to see a process where a big nation – a bigger nation can bully a smaller one to get its way on a territorial dispute.”

Chinese Territorial Claims Driving Asia Closer to U.S.

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Muscle flexing by the Chinese in the South China Sea is driving Asian neighbors into a closer alliance with the U.S. and feeding regional insecurity, cautioned one of Australia's most senior government ministers. "What the Chinese policy has been, and I think it's curious that it has been so counterproductive, it has been to muscle up to one or other of its neighbors, or all of its neighbors at different times," said Mr. Turnbull, communications minister in Mr. Abbott's inner circle and a conservative leadership contender. "It has really no allies in the region, apart from North Korea," Mr. Turnbull told a security and economic leadership conference at Australian National University. "And the consequence has been how China's neighbors are drawing closer to the United States than ever before." 

Regional Snapshots

China wants more investments in Phl

The Chinese government wants to encourage investments and attract more tourists to come to the Philippines, even as both countries are involved in a territorial dispute. “I should point out that China’s investments to the Philippines have not been satisfactory so we hope that we can invest more,” Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua said at a welcome dinner hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Tuesday. Investment opportunities are seen in the areas of infrastructure, energy and manufacturing. Given extensive experience of Chinese companies in the area of infrastructure, Zhao said there is interest in projects in the Philippines. Zhao said he wants to encourage investments in energy projects as well, to help bring down the country’s power costs, considered to be the highest in the Southeast Asian region.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister holds talks with Philippine counterpart

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh held talks with visiting Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario in Hanoi on July 2nd. The two sides discussed measures to actively realise agreements reached during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to the Philippines from May 21st-22nd. Regarding the regional and global situation, the two sides exchanged views on ASEAN cooperation and the South China Sea issue. They affirmed to continue joining efforts with ASEAN countries in successfully building the ASEAN Community, esteem the unity and promote the central role of the association in regional collaboration and the evolving regional architecture. ASEAN should demonstrate a united and responsible voice over important issues in the region, including the South China Sea issue, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region, they stressed. On the same day, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hosted a reception for Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario. Regarding the South China Sea issue, PM Dung said that nations holding sovereignty over the South China Sea and ASEAN member countries have no other way than to unite in the fight to stop China’s violations of international law and other countries’ sovereignty, even bringing the case to international tribunals. He also stressed the need to call on the international community to raise their voice in opposing China’s acts and demanding China immediately stop all aggressive acts and violations of international law and the DOC, seriously abide by the DOC and work with ASEAN towards the forming of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

RIMPAC Drills will help nations work together in a crisis

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The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said June 30th China's first-time participation in the world's largest maritime exercises in Hawaii will help Beijing and other nations work together in a crisis. The Rim of the Pacific drills will help countries respond as they did when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last year and when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March, Adm. Harry Harris told reporters at a news conference opening a month of training. "These are multilateral events. Real world operations. It helps us if we practice together in settings like this," Harris said. The U.S. hopes the exercises will help the U.S. and China increase transparency and better understand each other, he said.