China’s new fishing law covers PHL territories -- DFA

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 14): China’s new fishing law covers PHL territories -- DFA

The Philippines on Tuesday issued a public protest against China’s new fisheries law in the disputed South China Sea, saying its area of coverage included parts of the country’s territory.

Manila made the statement in response to China’s explanation that the regulation, which is being administered by the Chinese province of Hainan, covers a huge expanse of the waters, including those that fall within Philippine jurisdiction but is being claimed by China.

When asked by the Philippines to explain its new law, China said “the new regulation is an implementation of China’s fisheries law and covers their jurisdiction of Hainan province.”

“The Department of Foreign Affairs reiterates its strong protest which we have made on June 28, 2012 since the jurisdiction of Hainan province included the Philippine territories and impinges on the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing.

“This statement is already our protest and we also do that as part of our diplomatic efforts,” Hernandez said.

Beijing in 2012 established a new city called Sansha under its southern Hainan province to politically administer areas it is claiming in the disputed waters, including the Philippine-claimed Kalayaan Island Group and the Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc.

The Philippines does not recognize Sansha, saying it infringes on its territory.

Foreign fishing vessels under the law, which came into force last Jan. 1, must obtain permission from Chinese regional authorities before fishing or surveying in a large portion of the South China Sea.

Parts of the resource-rich waters that are within Manila’s territorial boundaries have been renamed West Philippine Sea by the Philippine government.

Competing claims to the South China Sea by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have sparked occasional violence and several armed confrontations in the past.

China is being criticized lately by many nations, led by the United States, for its rapidly expanding claim over the waters despite a commitment under a non-binding code of conduct it signed in 2002 with Southeast Asian nations that claimants will exercise restraint and stop new occupation in the South China Sea.

China claims “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire waters, where undersea gas deposits have been discovered in several areas, even as it overlaps with the territories of its Asian neighbors.

Manila has sought international arbitration to try to declare as illegal China’s massive claim.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=605039