Posted on 04/08/2013 11:24:48 AM PDT by tsowellfan
China has been roundly condemned for worsening East Sea tensions by announcing a plan to sail a cruise ship this month to the Hoang Sa (Paracels) Archipelago that Vietnam claims sovereignty over.
“China will continue to develop the Paracel Islands to demonstrate that it is in effective occupation of the islands and is exercising administrative control,” said Carl Thayer, a maritime expert at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
China is scheduled to let tourists visit the Xisha Islands (the name China has given to the Paracels Archipelago) ahead of the forthcoming May Day holiday, Tan Li, executive vice governor of the southern-most province of Hainan, was quoted as saying by the state news agency Xinhua in a Sunday report.
People will be allowed to visit the islands on cruise tours, Tan said at the 2013 annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, a non-profit organization that hosts high-level forums for leaders from government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share their vision on the most pressing issues in the region and the world at large.
Details of the tours will be released on a later date, Tan said, adding that tourists will eat and sleep on the cruise ships and visit the islands for sightseeing.
A cruise ship with a gross registered tonnage of 47,000 tons that can accommodate 1,965 passengers is ready for sailing, Xinhua said, citing a source from the ship’s owner, Haihang Group.
The official Vietnam News Agency said Monday the announcement violates Vietnam’s sovereignty and is against the spirit of the talks in which China committed to fully follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).
China and four members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei – are embroiled in sovereignty disputes over the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea.
China illegally claims sovereignty over 80 percent of the East Sea.
The waters are thought to hold vast untapped reserves of oil and natural gas that could potentially place China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and other claimant nations alongside the likes of Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Qatar.
China’s plan to send cruise ship to the Paracels was the latest in a series of unilaterally provocative actions in the area.
Last month, a Chinese ship shot flares at four Vietnamese fishing boats from Quang Ngai Province that were fishing in their traditional fishing grounds in the Paracels, a move that Vietnam criticized as “inhumane and dangerous”.
Thayer said China is likely to take other provocative actions in the near future.
“The next move by China will be to impose its annual unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea above 12 degrees north latitude, or the waters around the Paracel Islands. Chinese civilian authorities may step up arrests of those they consider ‘illegal fishermen’,” he told Thanh Nien.
Given the status quo, international experts say they doubt if China will soon agree on a separate code of conduct (COC) aimed at easing tensions in the East Sea.
“China's position is that it is not ready to start talks on a COC because it accuses Vietnam and the Philippines of repeatedly violating the DOC," said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore.
"Of course Hanoi and Manila have accused Beijing of doing the same, and the tourism cruises to the Paracels could be interpreted as a violation of the self-restraint clause in the DOC,” he said.
“China's position on the COC is unlikely to change in the near future.”
Mark Valencia, a Hawaii-based expert on the dispute, said China is trying to keep the disputes separate from the COC and its relations with the ASEAN.
“I would guess there will be more discord between Vietnam and China,” he said.
Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh on Monday visited Quang Ngai’s Ly Son Island and affirmed Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa (Spratlys) archipelagoes.
He instructed Ly Son District to encourage fishermen to stick to their traditional fishing grounds in the archipelagoes.
Minh said his ministry has requested the central government to offer more support to local fishermen.
This is a great publicity stunt.
Wonder if Lurch can help out.
Didn’t think so.
We knew the Norks were a distraction from something. Well played, China.... well played.
It’s just the rules of socialism - when you want more stuff you take it. Vietnam made its bed long ago and is going to learn all about Chinese imperialism, which is something they should already know from experience.
What do you expect after Sec. Def. Hagel cancelled one of our regularly scheduled ICBM test flights in an ultimate show of weakness?!?!?
Simple solution for the Vietnamese, sink the Lusitania.
That would be an interesting scenario. I wonder where it would go from there.
Yes. If they can. If VN can’t control the land, then it’s only a matter of time before someone takes it from them.
I really doubt we’d lift a finger to protect Viet Nam from China. This has nothing to so with the US, and I’d like to keep it that way.
Probably a sternly worded letter from Lurch and the UN.
What are you smoking?
Your comment has NOTHING to do with my post!
The U.S. had a regularly scheduled ICMB test flight planned this week, and we cancelled it, pretending that we were being cautious about inflaming tensions in the S. Pacific.
Taking that step only emboldens N. Korea and China.
We should have said NOTHING and proceeded with our test flight.
Vietnam and China have been fighting with each other for over 1000 years. Nothing new here.
April 2012: US, Vietnam hold joint naval drills amid China tensions
These drills actually started under the Bush administration. I'm surprised that they actually continued under "peace-loving" Obama.
You are exactly right! This is all connected because China=North Korea and North Korea=China
Instead of Free Trading w Communist China....put tariffs on them. Free Trade w ChiCks just enboldens them
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