{"id":139236,"date":"2012-07-03T09:17:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T16:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=139236"},"modified":"2012-07-03T09:20:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T16:20:10","slug":"china-moves-take-control-south-china-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2012\/07\/china-moves-take-control-south-china-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"China Moves to Take Control of South China Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tensions seemed to have eased between Beijing and Manila<\/a>, but CDT previously reported that China had vowed to oppose military aggression in the South China Sea<\/a>. While the announcement seemed to be directed towards the recent tensions between China and Vietnam<\/a>, there are now reports of Beijing sending warnings to both countries<\/strong><\/a>. From the New York Times:<\/p>\n Liu Weimin, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, urged Vietnam and the Philippines on Monday to improve their relations with China by softening their stances in territorial disputes in the South China Sea. During a regularly scheduled news conference, Mr. Liu was especially critical of the Philippines after a politician there recently described as weak the Chinese claim to a disputed shoal. But Mr. Liu also urged Vietnam \u201cto do more to help bilateral relations be conducive to peace and stability,\u201d after the Vietnamese government allowed as many as 200 people to march toward the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi on Sunday to protest China\u2019s increasingly assertive territorial claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As China warns its neighboring countries over the disputed waters, China has also moved to assert control over the region<\/strong>.<\/a> The Vancouver Sun reports:<\/p>\n In swift succession Chinese authorities have sought to establish a legal framework for their claim, which extends to Indonesian waters over 1,200 kilometres from the nearest undisputed Chinese landfall, and to threaten its neighbours if they continue to defy Beijing\u2019s claimed sovereignty over the sea.<\/p>\n Beijing claims its sailors discovered and established sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly clusters of islands, islets and shoals hundreds of years ago. Therefore, runs the Chinese argument, most of the South China Sea falls within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones around these features established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the 1980s.<\/p>\n To underline the point, the same day China\u2019s Foreign Ministry announced it is establishing a city-ranked municipal administration covering the Paracel and Spratly island chains. The so-called \u201cSansha City\u201d will have its seat of government on Woody island in the Paracels, an area China took from Vietnam in 1974.<\/p>\n Then, a week ago, the China National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) announced nine new blocks in the South China Sea are open for oil companies to bid for exploration and development rights. But unlike blocks offered by CNOOC in 2010 and last year, which were in undisputed Chinese waters, these blocks cover 160 square kilometres in the centre of the South China Sea. The western edges of some of the blocks reach to less than 80 nautical miles off the Vietnamese coast, well within its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to Bloomberg, the Philippines may ask the United States to deploy spy planes to monitor the region<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n The Philippines may ask the U.S. to deploy spy planes to monitor areas of the South China Sea following an increase in incidents amid a territorial dispute with China, a presidential spokesman said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no aggressive intent and it should not be seen as a provocation,\u201d Ricky Carandang, President Benigno Aquino\u2019s spokesman, said by telephone from Manila today. The Philippines would need U.S. P3 Orion planes because the nation doesn\u2019t have aircraft with spying capabilities, Reuters reported yesterday, citing comments Aquino made in an interview.<\/p>\n The U.S. \u201csupports the Philippines in enhancing its maritime domain awareness,\u201d State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters yesterday in Washington, while referring specific questions on military cooperation to the Pentagon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n