China's SCS Strategy Thread

[Jura The idiot]

I pulled just the SCS related part out of
Russia, China team up over North Korea, South China Sea

...
On the South China Sea, which China claims almost entirely, Lavrov said outside parties shouldn't interfere, a reference to the United States, which has challenged Beijing's claims.

Wang said it was up to those countries directly involved to find a peaceful resolution through negotiations.

"International society, particularly countries from outside the South China Sea, should play a constructive function in maintaining peace and stability and not contribute to the situation becoming more chaotic," Wang said.

Criticized over its aggressive tactics and construction of new islands with airfields, harbors and radar stations, China has sought to use Russia to bulk up its side of the argument against the U.S. and claimants such as the Philippines, which has brought a suit at the U.N. Court of Arbitration seeking a ruling on ownership over territories it claims.

China has refused to take part in the arbitration or recognize the court's ruling.

Along with enlisting Russia's support, China has given heavy publicity to what it calls a new consensus reached with Brunei, Cambodia and Laos — three members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations — endorsing its stance that the South China Sea dispute should not be an issue for ASEAN as a whole.

That has renewed criticisms from some that China is applying divide-and-conquer tactics with its smaller neighbors and trying to drive a wedge through the organization. ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines contest China's claims, while Taiwan also claims much of the area.

While the U.S. says it takes no position on South China Sea sovereignty claims, it has worked to shore up the military capabilities of the Philippines, a treaty ally. Washington has also called on China to end its island-building projects, and the U.S. Navy has repeatedly sailed and flown ships and planes nearby those structures, drawing sharp responses from the Chinese navy.

Wang and Lavrov both hailed two decades of warming ties between Moscow and Beijing, bitter Cold War rivals for a quarter century, who under Russian President Vladimir Putin have found common cause in challenging the West.

Russia has become a leading supplier of imported, high-tech weaponry and resources, such as oil and gas, while China is a major source of capital investment for projects in Russia.

Putin is scheduled to visit China in June.

source:

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[Equation]

Uh oh, Japan is making trouble..again. Time for Taiwan to stand up to them!

Taiwan Sunday sent two patrol ships to waters surrounding a Japanese atoll amid a dispute over the seizure of one of the island's fishing boats.

The detention of the "Tung Sheng Chi 16" near Okinotori-shima last week angered Taiwanese officials, who say Tokyo has no authority over the area.

A Taiwanese coast guard ship and another from the Council of Agriculture departed from the southern port of Kaoshiung Sunday.

"Japan has no right to ban our fishing boats from the area," Taiwan's coast guard adminstration said in a statement.

"The government will resolutely defend the rights and freedom of our fisherman in international waters."

The mission will last for one to three months.

Between 100-200 Taiwanese boats fish in the waters around Okinotori-shima each year.

Japan say it has exclusive rights in the 200 nautical mile area surrounding the uninhabited atoll in the Philippine Sea.

But in addition to Taiwan, China and South Korea also reject the Japanese claim.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it also plans to deploy warships to "appropriate waters" but spokesman David Lo declined to elaborate.

The maritime row is straining normally friendly relations between Taipei and Tokyo.

It follows a stand-off more than three years ago over a chain of islands in the East China Sea, when coastguard vessels from both sides attacked each other with water cannons.

The islands -- known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese -- are controlled by Japan but claimed by both China and Taiwan.

But in 2013 Japan and Taiwan forged a fisheries agreement covering the waters off the island chain.

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[Janiz]

Uh oh, Japan is making trouble..again. Time for Taiwan to stand up to them!

No means no. stop your belly aching and move along. The entire world doesn't revolved around the PRC's or Taiwan's request.

 

[Equation]

No means no. stop your belly aching and move along. The entire world doesn't revolved around the PRC's or Taiwan's request.

Yes no means that those atoll don't belong to Japan. Stop stealing my quote and go innovate your own. Oh wait you're just troll.

 

[confusion]

The entire world doesn't revolved around the PRC's or Taiwan's request.

China and Taiwan are not the only nations that contest Japan's EEZ claims at Okinotori. South Korea does as well. If North Korea actually bothered with international laws, they'd probably join in as well.

17 In its note verbale CML/25/2012, dated 5 April 2012, the People’s Republic of China
states inter alia , that “ Such disagreement is, in essence, a dispute of whether or
not the rock of Oki-no Tori shall have exclusive economic zone or continental shelf,
and a dispute of whether relevant maritime space is under national jurisdiction or a
common space of the international community”.

18 In its note verbale MUN/174/12 dated, 5 April 2012, the Republic of Korea states
inter alia, that “it considers that there exists a dispute concerning Oki-no-Tori
Shima’s legal status.”

19 In its note verbale PM/12/078, dated 9 April 2012, Japan states inter alia “Japan
considers the argument by the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea
insisting that the Commission should not make recommendations on the regions
relating to Oki-no-Tori Shima Island has no legal basis in any of the relevant legal
documents: the Convention, the Annexes to it, or the Rules of Procedure of the
Commission”.

What's ironic is that Japan responds to these complaints by attacking the jurisdictional rights of the Commission.

 

[LesAdieux]

China should send fishing boats to the okinotori atoll area, sail within three knots of the atoll; at the same time, PLA navy can run anti-pirate operation near by, if the jps coast guards ships dare to interrupt, then arrest them as pirates and put them on trial.

 

[jobjed]

China should send fishing boats to the okinotori atoll area, sail within three knots of the atoll; at the same time, PLA navy can run anti-pirate operation near by, if the jps coast guards ships dare to interrupt, then arrest them as pirates and put them on trial.

And then a 9,000 tonne Kongo/Atago shows up, displacing more and armed more than the 052Ds. If China wants to escalate, she'll need to wait until 055s are in service. It's best to keep it a coast guard affair for the time being; the 12,000 tonne CCG2901 class is more than enough to deal with the Shikishima class.

 

[joshuatree]

China should send fishing boats to the okinotori atoll area, sail within three knots of the atoll; at the same time, PLA navy can run anti-pirate operation near by, if the jps coast guards ships dare to interrupt, then arrest them as pirates and put them on trial.

I'm presuming you meant 3 NM of the rock? Or you meant cruise at 3 knots no closer than 12 NM to be completely out of any grey area of UNLCOS? But no need for PLAN or anti-piracy patrols. Fishing legally and accompanied by CCG is more than enough to make the point.

And then a 9,000 tonne Kongo/Atago shows up, displacing more and armed more than the 052Ds. If China wants to escalate, she'll need to wait until 055s are in service. It's best to keep it a coast guard affair for the time being; the 12,000 tonne CCG2901 class is more than enough to deal with the Shikishima class.

What about a Kongo/Atago showing up? Unless you're talking about a full blown engagement, it doesn't matter if their helicopter destroyer shows up as well. But I do agree showing white boats rather than grey is the appropriate rebuttal at this point.

The irony of this recent Japanese action on the Taiwanese fishing vessel is that it just greatly undermined the Philippines case with the arbitration court. It undermines everything the US, Australia, and Japan has criticized China on. And the dead silence from the US and Australia on Japan's recent action only makes them look even deeper in hypocrisy. If alliances are more important that "international law" where the "law" is not being applied equally to all nations, then "international law" is a joke and the criticism directed at China falls flat. The more other nations want to create quasi alliances and look the other way when one of their own violates the very principles they are arguing about, the more they are responsible for initiating another Cold War.

To further the momentum, China should try to reach a bilateral agreement with at lease Brunei and even Indonesia in regards to the SCS issues. If one or both agreements are secured, that's another decisive step in this ongoing game of chess.

 

[confusion]

Article summarizing the affairs at Okinotori, and places it in relation to the SCS:

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Taiwan sends Coast Guard and military vessels to enforce its right to fish in what Japan claims as its EEZ.
By

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May 03, 2016

As if Asia didn’t have enough maritime disputes, add one more to the list. Taiwan and Japan are in the midst of a diplomatic spat over the Okinotori Islands – or perhaps more properly the Okinotori atoll. In fact, the question of whether or not Okinotori is an island or simply a rock is central to the current tensions.

Okinotori is an uninhabited reef that is reportedly only above water at high tide – and then only thanks to concrete and steel reinforcements installed by Japan.

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, the parts of the atoll that are above the water at high tide are “hardly larger than a pair of king size beds.” Yet Japan considers Okinotori, which is located roughly halfway between Taiwan and Guam, to be a proper island. Taiwan – along with China and South Korea – do not.

This is more than mere semantics; an island is entitled to a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone under international law, while a rock is not. The EEZ around Okinotori would amount to over 400,000 square kilometers – “an area larger than the entire landmass of Japan,” as the Wall Street Journal

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in 2005.

China first challenged Japan’s description of Okinotori as an island

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, arguing that it is merely a rock and thus not entitled to an EEZ. In return, Japan doubled-down by constructing a heliport and installing radar on the feature. Shintaro Ishihara, then the mayor of Tokyo, even traveled to Okinotori for a flag-raising photo-op in 2005. Japan also began considering building a lighthouse or even a port on the feature to strengthen its claim that Okinotori is more than a rock.

If this all sounds familiar to Diplomat readers, it may be because these same questions – the status of a mostly-submerged reef under UNCLOS – are central to the Philippines’ case against China in the South China Sea. And China’s response — reclaiming thousands of acres of land on features Manila argues are properly LTEs or rocks — is similar in spirit, if widely divergent in scale, from Tokyo’s reaction to the challenge over Okinotori’s status.

The Okinotori islands vs. rock question flared up again on April 25, when Japan’s Coast Guard detained 10 Taiwanese fishermen 150 nautical miles from Okinotori, inside what Tokyo claims as its EEZ. In response, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration issued a statement

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“international waters” and saying that “Japan has no right to ban our fishing boats from the area.” The fishermen were released after a security deposit of 6 million yen (roughly $54,000) was paid, with assistance from Taiwan’s government.

Taiwan then summoned

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, Mikio Numata, to register formal complaints. Taiwan’s foreign minister, David Lin, told Numata that Japan should respect Taiwan’s right to fish in the area. He also “strongly protested” the arrests of the Taiwanese fishermen, saying it violated the spirit of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

On Friday, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou

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of violating the rights of fishermen (from Taiwan and elsewhere) by claiming an EEZ around Okinotori. Ma said that, as the feature cannot sustain human life or habitation, it should not be entitled to an EEZ. He added that he had asked Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the case, but if those efforts were unsuccessful, Taiwan would consider seeking international arbitration. According to Taiwan’s government,

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operate in the area each year.

In turn, Japan lodged a counter protest against Taiwan for not recognizing the Okinotori EEZ. Japan’s foreign minister, Fumio Kishida,

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, “Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, [Okinotori Island’s] status as an island is established. Japan cannot accept the Taiwanese side’s claims.”

Last week, Ma also instructed Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration to take steps to protect Taiwanese fishermen’s access to the area. On Sunday, a Taiwan Coast Guard patrol ship as well as a Fisheries Agency ship left Taiwan,

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. They will reportedly be deployed in the area for a month.

The two patrol ships were

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, reportedly a Lafayette-class frigate. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, a military source said that the frigate “will not appear on the front line, though it can quickly come to the rescue in the event of any contingencies.” A frigate will remain in the area near Okinotori until the end of May, according to the source.

Military spokesman Luo Shou-he said that Taiwan generally follows the principle of the “Coast Guard protecting fisherman, and the Navy supporting the Coast Guard.”

The deployment of Taiwanese government vessels to the area sets the stage for a potential confrontation should the Japan Coast Guard attempt to seize another Taiwanese fishing vessel near Okinotori. However, there may be hope for a diplomatic solution – in 2013, Taiwan and Japan signed an agreement allowing both sides access to fishing grounds near the Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands, which are claimed by both parties (as well as Beijing, which calls them the Diaoyus). There’s no dispute over control of Okinotori; simply over its classification under UNCLOS.

Meanwhile, China chimed in on the dispute last week, reiterating its position that Okinotori is merely a rock. “As prescribed in the UNCLOS, rocks like Okinotori which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone nor continental shelf,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying

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. “Japan has violated the UNCLOS by categorizing Okinotori as ‘island’ for the purpose of claiming for EEZ and continental shelf based on that. China does not recognize the illegal assertion by Japan.”

Claiming and enforcing an EEZ around “an isolated rock … far away from the homeland,” to the protests of neighboring states — perhaps China and Japan have finally found something they have in common.

That last sentence is pure comedic gold.

Meanwhile, Kumio Kishida has this to say about international law while currently on a tour in Southeast Asia:

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Japan has reiterated its strong opposition on unilateral actions that changes the status quo in West Philippine Sea. China has created fake islands in Kalayaan (Spratly) Group of Islands.

“At the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which I hosted last month in Hiroshima, my home town, the importance of maintaining maritime order based on the principles of international law was reaffirmed, and strong opposition to attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the South China Sea was demonstrated,” Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Fumio Kishida told an audience at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand May 2.

“We must establish a regional order whereby the principle of the “rule of law” is truly upheld and practiced. From this perspective, I would like to renew my call for the early conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC),” he added.

 

[GreenestGDP]

This Fumio Kishida is such a two face person.
Fumio has been begging to meet the PRC Foreign Minister for almost 2 years. After PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi granted him a visit to Beijing, then Fumio is knifing PRC in the back by his recent Bangkok statement.

OTOH, ... ...
Japanese Shinzo Abe, Fumio Kishida, and Japanese Right wing Neocons does not have the guts to confront Australian government for shaming and rejecting Japanese submarine offers.

Japan as a nation are being gradually ruined by the Japanese Right wing Neocons thugs.