SouthChinaSea.com | Website on the South China Sea

SCSC - On 20^th Oct 2012, the article ‘Japan must adapt to China’s navy moves’ on China’s Global Times adopted a threatening tone to its coastal neighbors. On one hand, it defended the joint drills involving the Eastern Sea’s fleets, fishery patrol and maritime surveillance ships conducted in the East China Sea, on the other hand, made warning and intimidating statements to Japan, Viet Nam and the Philippines.

According to the article ‘For years, it [China] has been, and still will be, showing restraint during frictions on its borders. But this does not mean China ‘fears’ Japan, Viet Nam or the Philippines’.

SCSC - The South China Morning Post print edition on 6^th December 2012 quoted Xi Jinping, the new General Secretary of China Communist Party who had confirmed that “China is following a path of peaceful development”, that “ China will not seek hegemony or expansionism” and “ China’s progress is absolutely not a challenge or threat to other countries”.

Xi’s statement was made at his meeting with 20 foreign experts working in China at the Great Hall of the People on 5^th December 2012, his first meeting with foreigners since being appointed Party Secretary General. Xi’s remarks sound very “peaceful” amidst rising tension between China and neighbouring countries due to China’s “provocative” actions in the East China Sea and the East Sea as well as increasing confrontation between China and the United States in these areas.

SCSC - On 28^th December 2012, Mr. Zhang Zhi Jun, the Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, who had been viewed as the Foreign Minister when the new Government was founded in March 2013, delivered an important speech at the Blue Hall Forum with the participation of representatives from diplomatic missions and international organisations in Beijing.

In his remarks, he explained China’s foreign policy of “unswervingly following the peaceful development and promoting win-win cooperation” after the 18^th Party Congress.

SCSC - On November 30, 2012, Beijing used fishing boats to cut cables of the Vietnamese ship named Binh Minh 02 within Vietnam's continental shelf. In order to argue for their wrongdoing, "Global Times" a supplement of the People’s Daily newspaper on December 5, 2012 published an article entitled "It is a must to increase level of risk over Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration inside the nine-dotted line," claiming that “Vietnam has become addicted to stealing" and "Vietnam often relies on pressure of the international community to force China to retreat."

Meanwhile, in Beijing on the same day, that very newspaper posed such question as, "The fact that Viet Nam is stealing oil, is it a big trouble in the South China Sea?" in order to consult readers and later quoted a view that "it is needed to beat Vietnam in the head".

(SCSC) - On 21 June 2012, the National Assembly of Viet Nam adopted the Viet Nam Maritime Law by 99.8% of the votes. On 1 January 2013, this important law came into effect.

Southchinasea.com brings to the readers the article of author An Binh entitled: “2012 Viet Nam Maritime Law reflects Viet Nam’s major policy of peace”.

SCSC - China has recently made adventurous moves with the use of surveillance ships, aircrafts, and navy vessels to frequently conduct harassing acts in the Vietnamese waters. In addition, China stepped up the illegal construction of hospitals, schools, petrol stations, water stations, waste treatment system as well as roads and other infrastructure on the Phu Lam Island (Woody Island) of Hoang Sa Archipelago (Paracel Archipelago).

At the same time, China conducted illegal survey of natural resources and built large cruisers to prepare for tourist activities on the Hoang Sa. On April 28^th 2013, running counters to the fundamental principles of international law and the Declaration on the conducts of parties in the South China Sea (DOC), China brought tourist ships to the Hoang Sa Archipelago of Viet Nam.

Discussions and debates during the one-day workshop – ‘Sovereignty over Paracel and Spratly Archipelagos: Historical and Legal Aspects’ – held in the Quang Ngai province at the end of April and organized by the Pham Van Dong University focused mostly on two topics related to the South China Sea issue: historical and legal aspects over the sovereignty of the Paracel (Hoang Sa) and Spratly (Truong Sa) archipelagos.

A flashpoint that is involving more and more international actors with implications not solely at a regional level. [READ MORE]...

Quang Ngai – “In South China Sea—East Sea as referred by the Vietnamese–China is unable to present historical evidence of its claim.

Its territory was historically limited to Hainan island, thus Chinese used force to illegally occupy rocks, features and islands in the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos". [READ MORE]...

The South China Sea region has been converted into a militarily turbulent one due to the illegal claims by China declaring sovereignty over the entire South China Sea.

China in the process has not only resorted to escalated military brinkmanship but also resorted to use of armed force and coercion against its less powerful South East Asian neighbours, namely, Vietnam and the Philippines. [READ MORE]...

Beijing's rejection of international arbitration to resolve disputes over its claim to most of the South China Sea makes it look like a "bully" in the world community, a leading US expert on Chinese law said this week.

In January, the Philippines challenged the validity of China's nine-dash line - which defines its claim to a sea area that stretches hundreds of kilometres south and east from its most southerly province, Hainan - via an arbitration tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). [READ MORE]...