Sunday, April 27, 2014

MILF: CSO’s support BBL signing through peaceful rally

Posted to the MILF Website (Apr 27): CSO’s support BBL signing through peaceful rally



The Civil society organizations (CSOs) led by the United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD) staged a peace rally on April 10, 2014 in front of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) Office at Don Rufino Alonzo Street, Cotabato City urging the BTC members to sign the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and called on the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) to help facilitate its passage in the congress.
  
On April 18, information circulated in the social media network alleging that OPAPP asked at 3 members of the BTC not to sign the BBL. But GPH Peace Panel Chairman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer vehemently denied such an instruction from OPAPP.

The about two thousand rallyists put the following calls and reminders forward:

1. Support the signing of BBL;
 2. No signing means anti- Peace, and
3. No signing means spoiling.

They also pled with President Noynoy Aquino to be vigilant in every step of the spoilers.

Gutierrez Lumenda, National Staff of the Campaign and Advocacy Committee of the UNYPAD, challenged the president and OPAPP to be sincere in their promises made during the signing of the CAB at Malacaňang Palace on March 27, 2014.

Lumenda quoted Secretary Ging Deles of the OPAPP who emotionally said in her speech in Malacaňang,” that war must be stalled as it already claimed a lot of lives.”

“Tama na dahil marami na ang buhay na nawala, said Lumenda quoting Sec. Deles in her speech.

He also said that President Aquino in his speech warned the spoilers that they will be held liable should they not support the peace effort of the government.

“While rally was going on in front of the BTC Office, BTC Commissioners both from GPH and MILF were having the plenary session to settle some issues and concerns confronting them,” Jordan Talusob, National Secretary of the Campaign and Advocacy Committee and spokesperson of the rallyists, said.

He also said that at about 6:05 pm on April 20, the BTC Commissioners moved to adopt and signed the BBL except two Commissioners who failed to arrive and participate, namely Atty. Johaira Wahab and Fatmawati Salapuddin.

Asked about the reasons of the two commissioners for not coming, Talusob said: “We do not know.”

Talusob disclosed that it was Commissioner Robert “Bobby” Maulana Alonto who first to register his “YES” vote for the draft BBL. He delivered a privilege speech explaining the reason of his vote.

“The rest of the commissioners followed and did the same,” Talusob said.
In his message, Commissioner Shiek Said, said: “If ever ink is no longer available to be used in signing, I will extract my blood to use it as an ink just to sign the BBL.”

The International Monitoring Team (IMT,) some local government officials (LGU’s) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) were invited to witness the signing. Almost all personnel of BTC attended and anxiously waited for each commissioner to vote. The atmosphere at the office was so thrilling and exciting as everyone wanted to hear what every commissioner would say. Everyone had a sigh of relief after all the 13 commissioners made an affirmative vote for the draft BBL.

Rahib L. Kudto, President of UNYPAD, was invited to speak in behalf of the CSOs.

“The CSOs had been your partners and will always be your partners in the search for lasting peace in Mindanao,” he said.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/950-cso’s-support-bbl-signing-through-peaceful-rally

MILF: EU Envoys Visit BTC

From the MILF Website (Apr 27): EU Envoys Visit BTC



A high-level delegation of ambassadors coming from European Union (EU) states visited the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) April 25 where they were treated to a dinner and dances presented by Magindanawns and Tedurays.
  
Head of European Union Delegation to the Philippines Ambassador Guy Ledoux led his fellow diplomats which included Ambassador Thomas Ossowski (Germany), Ambassador Josef Muellner (Austria), Ambassador Roland Van Remoortele (Belgium), Ambassador Massimo Roscigno (Italy), Mr. Trevor Lewis (Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of the United Kingdom), Mr. Mihai Sion (Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of Romania), Mr. Jan Vytopil (Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Czech Republic) and Mr. Hugues-Antoine Suin (Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of France).

EU Programme Manager Edoardo Manfredini and Carlos Gallego, Senior Program Manager of the Spanish Cooperation in the Philippines, along with EU Public Affairs Officer Thelma Gecolea, also joined the delegation.

They were received by BTC Deputy Chairman Akmad Sakkam and six other commissioners in the persons of Melanio Ulama, Said Sheik, Hussein Muñoz, Asani Tammang, Talib Benito and Fatmawati Salapuddin. Four commissioners including Chairman Mohagher Iqbal are currently in Malaysia while the rest were on other official engagements.   

In explaining the purpose of their visit, Ambassador Ledoux said that it is the “sign and symbol” of continuing European Union support to the peace process from the past to the future. They also came to be apprised of the activities undertaken by the BTC.

















(And) praised the BTC for doing an “amazing job” in passing the Bangsamoro Basic Law inspite of time constraints encountered especially in the completion of the annexes to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro.

The EU envoy noted that the “principles of peace are now adopted” since it is the first time that such a big group of ambassadors traveled outside of Cotabato City without military escort. Before proceeding to the BTC office, the delegation went first to Camp Darapanan of the MILF in Sultan Kudarat town.

Earlier in the day, the EU delegation also visited a de-mining operation and some of its livelihood and small infra projects.

Deputy Chairperson Sakkam warmly thanked the European ambassadors for their visit to BTC. He also expressed the collective gratitude of the BTC over the EU’s earlier assistance in sponsoring some workshops and the production of the BTC primers in six major languages.

http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/949-eu-envoys-visit-btc

Bayan Muna calls AEDC with US worse than 1991 treaty, eyes case in int’l body

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Apr 27): Bayan Muna calls AEDC with US worse than 1991 treaty, eyes case in int’l body


Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares . INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
Bayan Muna plans to take its fight against the return of American bases to the Philippines to the international court amid reports that a new agreement will be signed on Monday (Apr. 28) before US President Barack Obama’s arrival.

“We will get the support of international lawyers to file a case against the US and President Aquino for crimes against humanity committed as a result of this new basing agreement,” said Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares in a statement.

Colmenares revealed that Philippine and US authorities met on Sunday (Apr. 27) for last-minute changes to the new Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC), which would be the highlight of Obama’s two-day state visit.

Colmenares said the move to bring the case in an international body would be on top of Bayan Muna’s plan to file a case with the Supreme Court declaring the AEDC unconstitutional.

Colmenares questioned the “undue haste” in signing the AEDC.

“This will practically bring back US military bases in the Philippines without a treaty, without rent and without limits as the American may use all Philippine military facilities – an arrangement worse than the Bases Treaty rejected by the Philippine Senate in September 1991,” said Colmenares.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said that no amount of safeguards against permanent basing or entry of nuclear weapons would be enough to appease concerns that the US would abuse the AEDC. “We all know that these can be circumvented because in reality, the US government is the one calling the shots and not the Aquino administration,” said Zarate.

Colmenares warned that the Philippine could be held accountable under international law should the US use its military facilities here as a base to attack other countries.

“The US is also expanding its bases in Japan.  During the International Alliance of Democratic Lawyers congress last week, it was made clear by many legal luminaries attending the Congress that the crime of aggression does not only attach to the US but also the country that allows the use of its territory to attack other countries.  While we condemn China’s aggressive acts in the West Philippine Sea, we will not tolerate aggressive acts of the US, which will subject the Filipino people to retaliatory attacks by the many enemies of the US,” said  Colmenares.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/597737/bayan-muna-calls-aedc-with-us-worse-than-1991-treaty-eyes-case-in-intl-body

Militants burn Uncle Sam effigy in Quezon

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Apr 28): Militants burn Uncle Sam effigy in Quezon



Filipino student activists bring their pet dogs to symbolize how Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is allegedly acting as a “lap dog of the U.S. government” during a rally at a park in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on Sunday, April 27, 2014. The group is opposing the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama and a looming pact that will increase the American military presence in the Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Some 50 activists and artists on Sunday staged a protest march and burned a 10-foot effigy of Uncle Sam at Perez Park in Lucena City.

In Mindanao, two Moro groups are worried that the visit of US President Barack Obama would mean an increase in the presence of American forces in the country and lead to hostilities.

“US troops are no longer welcome here in the country. It will not only violate the Constitution but also disrespect our national sovereignty,” Alexandrea Pacalda, spokesperson of Sining Kalilayan (Silayan-Quezon), said in an interview during the protest march, which snaked through city streets.

Amid chants of “Oust Aquino!” and “Down with US imperialism!” the effigy was burned at the park where the march ended.

Pacalda said the effigy depicted “Uncle Sam’s Death Drones and Missile” and was the artist group’s contribution to the protest against the two-day visit of Obama in Manila, starting Monday.

Obama is scheduled to sign the controversial US-Philippine Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation (AEDC) that would entail more US troop rotations in the Philippines.

The pact, Pacalda said, would strengthen not only US economic interests and military presence in the country but also its dominance in the Asia-Pacific.

Activist groups said US influence in the military’s counterinsurgency operations had resulted in more extrajudicial killings in the countryside.

Pacalda said her group would join other activists from Southern Tagalog in San Pedro town, Laguna province, before proceeding to Manila for the grand protest rally on Monday.

Saber-rattling

Lawyer Emmanuel Fontanilla, spokesman of the Misuari faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), said the group welcomed the visit of Obama but hoped that the US government would bring good news of peace and not use the opportunity for saber-rattling.

“We ardently pray that the visit will create the political ingredients of peace and not war. More on economic prosperity rather than military might,” Fontanilla said.

He said the MNLF feared US intervention in Mindanao, especially because the Moro people had consistently fought for their right to self-determination and freedom for decades.

He, however, explained that the Moro people were prepared for US intervention. “We clearly anticipate the same because the policy of the United States is war to earn more money,” Fontanilla said.

Abu Misry Mama, spokesperson of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), said the group’s mujahideen were ready to fight should US forces enter their land. The BIFF is a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which recently forged a peace deal on a Bangsamoro entity with the government.

“We would not join the calls for the total pullout of US soldiers in the country because talking is nothing. But what is sure is that our freedom fighters will shoot any foreign forces that would try to take away our lands,” Mama said.

Terror list

He said his group was not worried of being included in the US terror list because, according to him, only the people in the community could judge who the real terrorist was.

For years, history taught the people that land-grabbers, warlords and alleged abusive government and military officials are the real oppressors and terrorists, he said.

But Mama said the BIFF was hopeful that the visit of Obama would not mean another war in Mindanao. “The BIFF will not meddle with their political agenda in Manila as long as they will not meddle with Mindanao and the Bangsamoro homeland,” he said.
Mama expressed his concern over the future of the Bangsamoro because the MILF “appeared to be more friendly and cooperative” with the US government.—
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/102906/militants-burn-uncle-sam-effigy-in-quezon

A National Strategy for the South China Sea

From the Heritage Foundation (Apr 24): A National Strategy for the South China Sea

Abstract
The United States should develop and promulgate a National Strategy for the South China Sea (NSSCS) as part of its ongoing efforts to counter Chinese aggression in the region and to resolve the disputes there in a peaceful manner. It behooves the United States to shift its current posture in the South China Sea from one of vigilant maintenance of the status quo to a position that will foster the peaceful management and ultimately permanent resolution of issues affecting U.S. navigational rights and interests in the region. An NSSCS is one effective means of producing the necessary shift.

On December 5, a Chinese warship nearly collided with the USS Cowpens, a guided-missile cruiser operating lawfully in the South China Sea (SCS). This was only the most recent incident highlighting the unsustainable situation in the SCS.

In a throwback to the time of John Selden’s Mare Clausum,[1] China has claimed sovereign rights to the entirety of the SCS within a “nine-dash line” that encloses the sea, encroaching on China’s neighbors. Over the past several years, China has vigorously pursued its claim, regularly harassing the fishing boats and oil exploration vessels of other nations that border the SCS. Most alarmingly, China has endangered U.S. Navy vessels engaged in lawful military activities in the SCS. In addition, in what may be a prelude to its future plans for the SCS, China recently declared an “air defense identification zone” in the East China Sea, which includes the airspace over a disputed group of islands.

To make its intentions entirely clear to China and U.S. allies in the region, the United States should develop and promulgate a policy document—a National Strategy for the South China Sea (NSSCS)—that contains:
  1. An official position regarding the nature of the disputed land features in the SCS;
  2. A legal memorandum concerning U.S. military activities in the SCS, including military surveys;
  3. An opinion on the legality of China’s “nine-dash line” claim;
  4. An affirmation of U.S. “freedom of navigation” operations in the SCS; and
  5. A statement of support for the Philippines in its arbitration case against China.
It behooves the United States to shift its current posture in the SCS from one of vigilant maintenance of the status quo to a position that will foster the peaceful management and ultimately permanent resolution of issues affecting U.S. navigational rights and interests in the region. An NSSCS is an effective means of producing the necessary shift.\

China’s Mare Clausum

China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters, and enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof.

—Letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon from Chinese Mission to the United Nations, May 2009[2]

More than 800 years ago Pope Alexander III granted sovereignty over the entire Adriatic Sea to the city-state of Venice. In a ceremony that began in 1176 and was repeated annually, the Pope presented the Doge of Venice with a golden ring, which he would cast into the Adriatic, symbolically marrying Venice to the sea. Venice did not possess both shores of the Adriatic, but that did not stop it from invoking its “marriage rights” and prosecuting them through force.[3]

Three hundred years later, papal sanction was again sought regarding sovereignty over the Atlantic Ocean. To resolve disputes and avoid conflict between maritime powers Spain and Portugal, in 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued a bull dividing the Atlantic Ocean from pole to pole, granting Spain sovereignty over all lands to the west of the line and Portugal all lands to the east. The papal grant included a monopoly over all commerce within the divided areas “so that other nations could not trade without license from the Spanish or Portuguese sovereign.” Navigation and trade within the Atlantic without a royal license was punishable by death.[4]

A century later, in 1609, the debate over whether maritime states could exercise sovereign rights over such vast bodies of water came to a head with the publication of Hugo Grotius’s Mare Liberum (“free sea”). Grotius’s famous essay was “an earnest and powerful appeal … made to the civilized world for complete freedom of the high seas for the innocent use and mutual benefit of all.” Grotius declared that the Spanish and Portuguese claims and the papal bulls that granted them were invalid under the “law of nations.”[5] According to Grotius, the sea is res nullius (“nobody’s property”), and as the “common property of all … no one may be lawfully barred from travelling across it.”[6]

The Stuart kings of Great Britain, desiring to retain exclusive fishing rights in waters to their north and west, responded to Grotius by publishing John Selden’s Mare Clausum (“enclosed sea”). But the position argued by Selden “was moribund, opposed to the growing spirit of freedom throughout the world and to the emerging principle of mare liberum.” Grotius’s view regarding dominion over the seas prevailed:
The Law of Nations developed along the lines proposed by Grotius. More and more, the principle was recognized that the high seas should be open and free for the use of all nations. No nation could prevent another from carrying on traditional activities at sea. The exclusive sovereign claims over vast areas of the sea had to be abandoned.[7]
Centuries have passed since acceptance of the Grotian view that no nation may claim or exercise sovereignty over the world’s oceans, with the exception of a narrow band of water extending from the nation’s coast known as the “territorial sea.” By the early 19th century, it was “almost universally accepted” that the breadth of the territorial sea was three nautical miles (nm) and that any waters seaward of that limit were open to navigation for the ships of all nations.[8]

Four hundred years after the publication of Mare Liberum, the Chinese government has claimed sovereign rights over the entire South China Sea through its “nine-dash line” claim. On May 6, 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam made a joint submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding the outer limits of their respective continental shelves.[9] The next day, China sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General objecting to the Malaysia–Vietnam submission, calling it a serious infringement upon “China’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the South China Sea.”[10]

Accompanying China’s letter was a map of the SCS almost encircled by a U-shaped, nine-dash line that begins off the coast of Vietnam, moves south until it reaches a point off the coast of Malaysia, travels northeast to the Philippines, and ends off the east coast of Taiwan. This nine-dash line is apparently based upon a map first issued by China in 1947 when the Kuomintang Nationalists were still in power.

Regarding the legal status of the land features and waters enclosed within the nine-dash line—that is, almost the entire SCS—China’s letter stated:
China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters, and enjoys sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters as well as the seabed and subsoil thereof (see attached map).
While China has never clarified the precise basis of its nine-dash-line claim, the language that China uses in its letter roughly reflects the text of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Article 56, titled “Rights, jurisdiction and duties of the coastal State in the exclusive economic zone.” Specifically, Article 56(a) states that a coastal state has “sovereign rights” in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to exploit the living and non-living natural resources in the water and on the seabed,[11] while Article 56(b) states that a coastal state has “jurisdiction” with regard to establishing artificial islands, conducting marine scientific research, and protecting the marine environment.[12]

A generous interpretation of the nine-dash line letter is that China (1) claims sovereignty over all islands within the nine-dash line (e.g., the Spratly and Paracel island groups and the Scarborough Reef) and their adjacent waters (i.e., their respective 12 nm territorial seas) and (2) declares “sovereign rights and jurisdiction” over the “relevant waters” (i.e., the waters seaward of the territorial sea, including a 200 nm EEZ) as well as the seabed extending from the islands. In effect, even if interpreting China’s claim to encompass only SCS land features, it has effectively claimed almost the entire SCS as an EEZ.

The nations that are most adversely affected by China’s nine-dash-line claim are the other SCS coastal states, particularly Vietnam, the Philippines, and other nations that engage in fishing and hydrocarbon exploration in the waters claimed by China. However, China’s nine-dash-line EEZ claim adversely affects the United States as well, not because U.S. vessels engage in commercial activity in the SCS, but because of China’s insistence that it may prohibit certain military activities within its EEZ.



China’s Claims Violate the Law of the Sea

A coastal state that is party to UNCLOS is permitted to claim an EEZ, but only one that extends 200 nm from its shoreline.[13] China’s “nine-dash line” claim, however, encompasses the entire SCS, including parts of the EEZs of other coastal states that border the SCS, including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and even Indonesia.

In addition, UNCLOS is clear that all nations have the right to navigate their warships on and their aircraft over the EEZ of a coastal state as long as those ships and aircraft do not exploit the natural resources of the EEZ. While military survey activities are considered prejudicial to the peace and security of a coastal state if conducted within its 12 nm territorial sea, nothing in UNCLOS prohibits such activities outside the territorial sea.

China’s position is that military surveys conducted within its EEZ are illegal,[14] but UNCLOS (Part V, “Exclusive Economic Zone”) clearly states that activities within the EEZ relate solely to economic matters, not to military matters.

Article 87 of UNCLOS is titled “Freedom of the high seas” and is in Part VII of the Convention, titled “High Seas.” The article lists the rights of all states while operating on the high seas, including, inter alia, (a) freedom of navigation, (b) freedom of overflight, (c) freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines, (d) freedom to construct artificial islands and other installations permitted under international law, (e) freedom of fishing, and (f) freedom of scientific research.[15]

Part V sets forth the rights and duties of a state operating within the EEZ of a foreign coastal state. In particular, Article 58 (“Rights and duties of other States in the exclusive economic zone”) makes clear that all states may exercise broad high seas freedoms while operating in a foreign EEZ. Specifically, these states “enjoy, subject to the relevant provisions of this Convention, the freedoms referred to in Article 87 of navigation and overflight” within the EEZ of a coastal state, thereby incorporating by reference all of the navigational rights and freedoms listed in Article 87.

By explicitly referencing the rest of Part VII’s navigational provisions, Article 58 additionally makes clear that vessels operating within a foreign EEZ enjoy high seas freedoms: “Articles 88 to 115 and other pertinent rules of international law apply to the exclusive economic zone in so far as they are not incompatible with this Part.” Articles 88 to 115 set forth the general provisions applicable to the high seas and include the right of navigation (Article 90), immunity of warships from the jurisdiction of any other state (Article 95), and the right to seize a pirate ship or aircraft (Article 105).

The plain language of UNCLOS is explicit: All states enjoy high seas freedoms, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, while operating in a foreign EEZ.

U.S. Ratification of UNCLOS Unnecessary

No argument regarding U.S. policy in the SCS may be made without begging the question whether the U.S. should accede to UNCLOS. Proponents of U.S. accession claim that the United States cannot fully protect its maritime interests unless it accedes to the convention. Indeed, UNCLOS’s proponents believe that U.S. membership in the treaty would be determinative in any number of maritime controversies, including Chinese aggression in the SCS. Yet China is unlikely to be swayed by U.S. ratification of a treaty that China regularly violates or simply ignores.

Ratification of UNCLOS will neither sway China nor guarantee U.S. navigational rights in the SCS, which are advanced not by membership in a treaty, but by maintaining a strong Navy, conducting persistent naval operations against China’s excessive maritime claims, supporting key U.S. allies, and adhering to long-standing principles of the customary international law of the sea.

The customary international law of the sea—which includes the principles of freedom of the seas, “innocent passage” through territorial waters, and passage rights through international straits and archipelagoes—existed long before UNCLOS was adopted in 1982. The convention merely codified and elaborated upon these widely accepted principles. While not a party to UNCLOS, the United States—unlike China—actually honors the convention’s provisions. The United States demarcates legitimate maritime boundaries, respects the rights of coastal states within their EEZs and territorial seas, and adheres domestically to the regimes regarding the contiguous zone and EEZ.

No evidence suggests that China, or any other state, would respect its obligations under UNCLOS to a greater extent if the United States became a party. Nor is there any evidence that ratification of UNCLOS would enhance U.S. military capability. The Freedom of Navigation Program, the primary means of the U.S. confronting China’s excessive claims, does not rely on U.S. membership in UNCLOS.



Freedom of Navigation Program. The United States defends its global navigational rights through a combination of diplomatic protests from the State Department and U.S. Navy operations. These efforts directly challenge foreign coastal states by giving them formal notice that the United States will neither recognize nor respect excessive maritime claims.

The United States defended its navigational rights for decades prior to the adoption of UNCLOS in 1982. For example, in 1956, the U.S. protested a Panamanian claim that the Gulf of Panama was a “historic bay.” In 1961, it protested a Philippine claim of straight archipelagic baselines. In 1979, the Navy conducted an operational assertion off the coast of Sudan to protest a requirement that foreign warships obtain prior permission before transiting its territorial sea.[16] Between 1948 and March 1979, the United States issued at least 30 diplomatic protests regarding excessive maritime claims.[17]

These diplomatic and military activities were formally operationalized as the Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program in March 1979 during the Carter Administration.[18]
[The FON Program’s objective] is not just to maintain the legal right to operate freely in and over international waters. The more important objectives are, first, to have other nations recognize and respect the legal right of all nations to operate, in conformity with the navigational provisions of the LOS Convention, in and over the territorial sea and international waters, and second, to minimize efforts by other States to reduce those rights by making excessive maritime claims.[19]
Every U.S. President since President Jimmy Carter has reauthorized and prosecuted the FON Program.[20] When President Ronald Reagan decided not to sign UNCLOS in 1983, he confirmed that the United States would nevertheless continue to protect its navigational rights:
[T]he United States will exercise and assert its navigation and overflight rights and freedoms on a worldwide basis in a manner that is consistent with the balance of interests reflected in the convention. The United States will not, however, acquiesce in unilateral acts of other states designed to restrict the rights and freedoms of the international community in navigation and overflight and other related high seas uses.[21]
More than a decade after the adoption of UNCLOS, the Department of Defense issued an Ocean Policy Review Paper on “the currency and adequacy of U.S. oceans policy, from the strategic standpoint, to support the national defense strategy,” which concluded that U.S. national security interests in the oceans have been protected even though the U.S. is not party to UNCLOS:
U.S. security interests in the oceans have been adequately protected to date by current U.S. ocean policy and implementing strategy. U.S. reliance on arguments that customary international law, as articulated in the non-deep seabed mining provisions of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, and as supplemented by diplomatic protests and assertion of rights under the Freedom of Navigation Program, have served so far to preserve fundamental freedoms of navigation and overflight with acceptable risk, cost and effort.[22]
This is not to say that the Department of Defense does not support U.S. accession to UNCLOS—it certainly does. However, the Department of Defense does not, and cannot, say that U.S. membership in UNCLOS is absolutely essential to the preservation of navigational rights or that the United States is incapable of protecting those rights unless it accedes to the convention.

The U.S. Navy thrived for more than 180 years from its birth in 1775 through two world wars and developed into a global maritime power, all without membership in UNCLOS. In 1958, the principles of high seas freedom and innocent passage through territorial waters were codified in the first round of law-of-the-sea conventions.

Between 1958 and 1982, the Navy continued to fulfill its mission on a global scale. UNCLOS was adopted in 1982, duplicating the navigational provisions of the 1958 conventions and “crystallizing” the concepts of transit passage and archipelagic sea-lanes passage. Since 1982 through the end of the Cold War and to the present day, the Navy continues to prosecute its mission as the world’s preeminent naval power.

In contrast to China, the United States complies with the navigational norms, maritime boundary limits, and all other provisions of customary international law reflected in UNCLOS. China—not the United States—is the law-of-the-sea scofflaw.

Regardless, the United States cannot afford to wait to join UNCLOS before bringing a decisive resolution to the challenges in the SCS. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has taken the convention under consideration on many occasions, including hearings in 1994, 2003, 2004, and 2007. The committee held four hearings in 2012, but then-chairman Senator John Kerry (D–MA) did not attempt to offer the convention for a committee vote due to stiff opposition by the convention’s detractors.

There is no realistic possibility that the United States will ratify UNCLOS in the near term, or perhaps ever. U.S. policymakers should instead concentrate their efforts on developing and implementing a specific strategy to address intractable problems, such as those the United States faces in the SCS.

China’s Aggressive Pursuit of Its Excessive Claims

In contrast to many other coastal states that make excessive maritime claims about their territorial sea or EEZ but take no action to enforce them, China actively enforces its claims. China’s aggressiveness regarding its maritime and territorial claims in the SCS is not a new phenomenon. China has a history of resorting to force, seizing the western Paracels from Vietnam in 1974, sinking three Vietnamese vessels in 1988, and taking Mischief Reef from the Philippines in 1995.

China’s propensity for confrontation and violence has continued in recent years. Since 2009, the United States, Vietnam, and the Philippines have been repeatedly harassed in the SCS while engaging in lawful activities. Chinese maritime law enforcement and military vessels have regularly confronted, challenged, and sometimes used force against U.S. military survey vessels and Philippine and Vietnamese fishing boats and commercial survey vessels.

Among the more notable incidents in recent years are:

  • March 8, 2009. Five Chinese vessels harassed the USNS Impeccable while it was engaging in lawful military surveillance activities in the SCS approximately 75 miles from Chinese territory. The vessels threatened to collide with the unarmed Impeccable on several occasions and attempted to destroy its towed sonar array.[23]
  • June 11, 2009. A Chinese submarine struck and damaged the sonar array being towed by the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the SCS approximately 144 miles outside Subic Bay.[24] (There is ongoing debate about whether the collision was inadvertent.)
  • February 25, 2011. A Chinese frigate fired three shots at Philippine fishing vessel F/V Maricris 12 in Jackson Atoll.[25]
  • March 2, 2011. A seismic survey vessel M/V Veritas Voyager, leased by the Philippines, was harassed in Reed Bank by two Chinese patrol boats.[26]
  • May 21–25, 2011. According to the Philippines, Chinese vessels unloaded construction materials (steel posts) and placed a buoy near Amy Douglas Bank, which is considered to show an intention by China to build a structure and block off the area.[27]
  • May 26, 2011. Chinese patrol boats deliberately cut a submerged cable of the Binh Minh 02 hydrocarbon survey ship operated by PetroVietnam while operating in Vietnamese waters, 80 miles off the south-central coast of Vietnam. China stated that Vietnam’s operations “undermined China’s interests and jurisdictional rights.”[28]
  • June 8, 2011. A Chinese vessel used “specialized cable-cutting equipment” to intentionally damage the seismic exploration cables of the Viking 2 while it was exploring for oil under contract with PetroVietnam.[29]
  • July 5, 2011. Chinese soldiers boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat near the Paracel Islands in disputed waters, punched and kicked its captain, threatened other crew members, and “confiscated” one ton of fish.[30]
  • March 3, 2012. China detained 21 Vietnamese fishermen near the Paracel Islands and held them for seven weeks.[31]
  • April 8, 2012. Philippine and Chinese ships confronted one another at Scarborough Reef after Philippine naval forces boarded Chinese fishing vessels and found endangered sharks, corals, and giant clams.[32]
  • November 30, 2012. Chinese fishing vessels cut the survey cables of the Binh Minh 02 for a second time, this time just outside the Gulf of Tonkin.[33]
  • December 5, 2013. A Chinese warship nearly collided with the guided-missile cruiser USS Cowpens while it was lawfully operating in the SCS.[34]
  • China has slowly but steadily used these tactics to ratchet up the pressure on its smaller neighbors to gain control over various disputed SCS land features. At the same time, it has used a variation of these tactics to raise the stakes for U.S. efforts to assert navigational rights in the SCS, essentially challenging the United States to consider whether its efforts are worth the risk of confrontation.

    The ramifications for U.S. interests are significant. The official U.S. position is to not take a position on the issue of sovereignty over the various SCS land features, but China’s plan to steadily gain control over such features affects U.S. interests in the SCS. Each SCS atoll or coral reef controlled by China provides it with an additional land feature from which to claim—validly or invalidly—a territorial sea and an EEZ. In turn, each EEZ thus claimed by China will be used to further justify its nine-dash-line claim and bolster its protests against U.S. military activities in the waters surrounding the land features.

    The United States therefore does itself a disservice by continuing to pretend that it does not have a stake in the outcome of disputes over SCS land features and sea areas, including fishing grounds and hydrocarbon exploitation areas. It is time for the United States to shift its policy of neutrality on the sovereignty issue.

    Attempts to Resolve SCS Disputes Have Failed

    The nations bordering the SCS, including China, have ostensibly pledged to settle their disputes in a peaceful manner—a pledge that China has repeatedly broken. More than a decade ago, on November 4, 2002, China and all 10 ASEAN nations signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC), a nonbinding document committing to a peaceful resolution of their disputes.[35] Among other commitments, the DoC parties agreed to “reaffirm their respect for and commitment to the freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea as provided for by the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” and to “undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force.”

    As noted, China has repeatedly violated both the letter and the spirit of the DoC by confronting, often with force or the threat of force, Vietnamese and Philippine vessels operating lawfully in the SCS. China’s repeated aggression belies its rhetoric that it seeks only peaceful solutions to the SCS territorial and resource disputes.

    Perhaps realizing that China has no intention of respecting its commitments under the DoC, the Philippines is attempting to employ a legal avenue—UNCLOS’s mandatory dispute resolution mechanism—to facilitate a resolution of SCS disputes with China. On January 22, 2013, the Philippines instituted an arbitral proceeding against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration pursuant to UNCLOS, to which both China and the Philippines are parties.[36] Although sovereignty disputes regarding the disputed land features in the SCS are not justiciable under UNCLOS proceedings, the Philippine arbitration case challenges the validity of China’s nine-dash line and its assertion of “sovereign rights and jurisdiction” to essentially the entire SCS—a claim that is, on its face, justiciable under UNCLOS.

    China, understanding the weakness of its nine-dash-line claim, predictably chose not to respect its commitments under UNCLOS to peaceful resolution of disputes through arbitration. Instead, Chinese officials flatly rejected the idea of arbitrating the case pursuant to UNCLOS and have disingenuously claimed that China opted itself out of lawsuits such as this one at the time it ratified UNCLOS. China has also accused the Philippines of violating “the consensus enshrined” in the DoC.[37] China’s behavior increasingly makes clear that UNCLOS rules are largely irrelevant to the outcome of events in the SCS.

    A National Strategy for the South China Sea

    China’s nine-dash line, which is equivalent to a 21st-century mare clausum policy, must be strongly and credibly countered. Given Chinese actions in recent years to advance the legitimacy of its nine-dash-line claim by asserting control over SCS land features, concrete U.S. policy red lines are warranted.

    The United States should make clear to China that the United States places a high priority on protecting its national interests in the SCS. Such a marked shift in U.S. policy, rather than accepting the status quo and hoping for the best, is both necessary and justified due to China’s proven belligerence and its general reluctance to resolve SCS disputes peacefully.

    The United States should therefore develop and promulgate a National Strategy for the South China Sea. Specifically, the U.S. should:
    1. Take an official position regarding disputed SCS land features. The United States no longer has the luxury of staying out of SCS sovereignty disputes. Control of SCS land features is a zero-sum game. For example, although Vietnam and China dispute which nation has sovereignty over the Paracel Islands, China has exercised effective control over them since 1974 and is highly unlikely ever to surrender that control. Since it controls the Paracels, China is in a stronger position to make excessive maritime claims in the waters surrounding the islands than if it did not control the islands.
      Each coral reef and atoll controlled by China is an additional land feature from which China may make excessive claims and that may serve as a justification to disrupt lawful U.S. military activities, including survey and intelligence operations. It is contrary to U.S. interests for China to gain control over additional SCS land features. To continue to avoid the sovereignty issue, politically sensitive though it is, irresponsibly risks expansion of Chinese control over the SCS.
      The United States should make public whether it considers the various land features in the SCS as islands or mere “rocks.” While islands are permitted a 12 nm territorial sea and a 200 nm EEZ, rocks “which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life” are permitted only a territorial sea.[38] In this manner, the United States may make clear to SCS nations where it has a right to assert its navigational freedoms without becoming entangled in their ongoing territorial disputes.
    2. Underscore U.S. policy on military activities in the SCS. The legality of military activities in the SCS, including military survey and intelligence gathering, is a major sticking point between the United States and China. A legal memorandum emphasizing the U.S. position on its navigational rights in the SCS would help to further clarify the matter. In addition to reiterating long-standing U.S. priorities in the SCS (i.e., respect for international law, freedom of the seas, maintenance of security and stability, and unimpeded commerce and economic development),[39] the NSSCS should delineate the U.S. case regarding the legality of military survey activities in the EEZ.
    3. Continue freedom-of-navigation protests and naval operations. The United States has repeatedly issued diplomatic protests (in 2001, 2002, and 2007) to China regarding its Order No. 75, which purports to restrict military surveys within its EEZ. The U.S. Navy has also conducted regular operational assertions (in fiscal years 2007–2012) to protest China’s policy.[40] These protests must, at a minimum, continue apace. Yet more frequent naval assertions would signal that the United States is elevating the issue beyond “business as usual” in the SCS.
      Optimally, the U.S. should conduct such operations with one or more allies in the region, such as Australia and Japan, that have the naval capabilities to participate. Vietnam and the Philippines, whose fishing and commercial survey activities have been repeatedly interfered with by China, may also be willing to engage in joint operations.
    4. Publish a “Limits in the Seas” report regarding the nine-dash line. The United States issues regular reports on various aspects of the law of the sea in regard to maritime claims made by foreign nations. Since 1970, the State Department has published more than 130 reports regarding straight baselines, maritime and continental shelf borders, and territorial sea claims.[41] One section of the NSSCS should contain a legal review of and rejoinder to China’s excessive maritime claims in the SCS, including its nine-dash-line map and its domestic legislation purporting to restrict military activities within its EEZ. The NSSCS should also contain the U.S. position on whether land features in the SCS qualify as islands or “rocks.”
      This legal review should also be published separately as a “Limits in the Seas” report and submitted to the U.N. Law of the Sea Bulletin for publication.[42] The State Department should consider producing separate reports on China’s other excessive maritime claims concerning its contiguous zone and its attempt to draw baselines around the Senkaku Islands. The United States should consider joining Japan’s protest to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding China’s baseline claim regarding the Senkakus.[43]
    5. Assist SCS nations in complying with the law of the sea. The United States needs to convince its friends and allies in the region to bring their domestic law and practice into compliance with the law of the sea. Several SCS nations (other than China) have made excessive maritime claims, including claims restricting access to their territorial sea and the exercise of military activities in their EEZs. Such claims permit China to take the position that it is acting in the same manner as its neighbors. The United States should, through bilateral negotiations, work with SCS nations to abandon their excessive claims and thereby present a united legal front to China. U.S. assistance to these nations to resolve any outstanding maritime boundary issues would also be helpful.
    6. Support arbitration cases against China. The United States should not remain a neutral observer in the arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China. A decision in arbitration in favor of the Philippines, discrediting the nine-dash line, would advance U.S. interests. The United States should urge other nations—particularly Vietnam and Malaysia and also Brunei and Indonesia—to openly support the Philippines and to initiate arbitration cases of their own against China on the same legal grounds. Since these nations have chosen to be party to UNCLOS, they may as well take advantage of its dispute resolution process to attempt to peacefully resolve the legality of China’s excessive claims. China will undoubtedly refuse to arbitrate with any nation, which should further isolate it from other SCS nations.
    7. Preempt potentially harmful provisions of an SCS “code of conduct.” For many years, the nations of ASEAN and China have been negotiating a binding “code of conduct” document regarding the SCS. A firm legal position regarding military activities in the EEZ will make clear that the U.S. will not consent to a code of conduct that violates either customary international law or UNCLOS. Specifically, the NSSCS should note that any code of conduct that purports to restrict or prohibit military activities in the SCS or in any EEZ is unacceptable and that the U.S. will not comply with any such restriction.
      Of course, there is no guarantee that China will alter its behavior for the better if the United States shifts its policies in the manner recommended in this paper. Indeed, the release of an NSSCS may precipitate additional Chinese aggression in the short term. These policy recommendations are not meant to create an immediate beneficial effect, but instead are designed to shape the conditions in the SCS so that the festering disputes may be peacefully and definitively resolved in the mid-to-long term.
    Managing Blowback

    The South China [Sea] issue is not America’s business…. It’s between China and its neighbors.

    —General Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, People’s Liberation Army, May 2012[44]

    China will likely vigorously protest the release of a national strategy document on the SCS. Chinese officials complain even when U.S. officials merely restate long-standing and seemingly uncontroversial U.S. policies in the region. In July 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States opposes “the threat or use of force by any claimant in the South China Sea to advance its claims or interfere with legitimate economic activity.”[45] Even though Clinton’s statement fell well within the four corners of the Declaration of Conduct, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called her comments an “attack” on China.[46]

    Any Chinese protests over a national strategy document should be treated as disingenuous posturing. First, the United States has promulgated comprehensive policy statements regarding the Asia–Pacific region in the past.[47] During the 1990s, the Department of Defense issued four East Asia Strategy Reports to “explain DoD’s security strategy for the region to Congress, our allies and friends, and the American public.”[48] The 1990 and 1992 reports outlined the U.S. military’s proposed changes in global strategy and force structure in response to the end of the Cold War, while the 1995 and 1998 reports reaffirmed U.S. security commitments to the region and stated an intention to maintain approximately 100,000 military personnel in the region.[49] Regarding the SCS, the 1995 report stated, “The United States has urged peaceful settlement of South China Sea issues, and strongly opposes the threat or use of military force to assert any nation’s claim.”[50] More recently, in January 2012, the Department of Defense released two strategy and budget documents making clear U.S. intentions to place greater emphasis on the Asia–Pacific region.[51]

    In addition, the United States has developed national security strategy documents regarding other strategic regions. For instance, the Obama Administration released two strategy documents relating to U.S. interests in the Arctic: “National Strategy for the Arctic Region” released by the White House in May 2013 and “Arctic Strategy,” released by the Department of Defense in November 2013.[52] Whether in the Asia–Pacific or another strategic region, it is hardly unprecedented that the United States should promulgate a comprehensive policy statement regarding its strategic interests in the SCS.

    Any Chinese protests concerning the proposed NSSCS would also be hypocritical. Given China’s clear intentions to stake a claim in the Arctic—a region that is very far from its shores—China cannot credibly complain about the U.S. protecting its interests in the SCS. China has vigorously pursued its purported interests in the Arctic. In a March 2010 speech to the Peoples’ Political Consultative Conference, retired Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo declared that the “Arctic belongs to all the people around the world as no nation has sovereignty over it.”[53] Chinese Arctic specialists have described China as a “near-Arctic state” and a “stakeholder” in Arctic affairs.[54] Other Arctic nations, including the United States, granted China “ad hoc” observer status at the Arctic Council in 2007 and permanent observer status in 2013.

    The U.S. should not avoid aggressively challenging China’s nine-dash line and its excessive maritime claims for fear that it could lead to a confrontation. At times, direct confrontation is necessary to resolve intractable problems. For example, in February 1988, U.S. and Soviet warships collided in the Black Sea while the U.S. was challenging the USSR’s excessive maritime claim regarding its territorial sea.[55] The “Black Sea bumping” incident did not result in an armed conflict or even an exchange of gunfire. To the contrary, the following year, the two nations signed a joint statement acknowledging reciprocal passage rights through each other’s territorial waters.[56]

    Similarly, the recent near collision between the USS Cowpens and a Chinese naval vessel illustrates the potential for misunderstandings and unexpected conflict in the SCS. The United States should unequivocally clarify its interests, intentions, and policies in the SCS. Any possible diplomatic blowback is preferable to an armed exchange.

    Conclusion

    China’s intentions in the South China Sea are clear: a steady campaign to gain control of land features for the purpose of establishing a massive EEZ throughout the SCS in an attempt to justify its nine-dash-line claim. As it continues to expand its civilian police and military fleets, China will be in a strong position to harass and interfere with U.S. military activities in the SCS and destabilize the region by disrupting Vietnamese and Philippine commercial activities.

    The stakes for the United States on this issue go beyond the SCS. International law is universal in its application, and China’s challenge to it in the SCS, if not countered, may set a precedent for other nations to make similar challenges in other parts of the world. Such a development would further affect the ability to defend U.S. national interests in those areas and add momentum for a shift from a mare liberum world to a mare clausum world.

    China’s nine-dash line must therefore be met with U.S. red lines, sooner rather than later. The United States should act firmly while it can still exercise military superiority in the Asia–Pacific region in general and the SCS in particular. The momentum of events in the SCS needs to shift from one in which China persistently bullies its smaller neighbors into surrendering land features into one in which China must adapt its behavior to comply with international law.

    A National Strategy for the South China Sea would be an important first step in changing that momentum.

    [Steven Groves is Bernard and Barbara Lomas Senior Research Fellow in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation. Dean Cheng is a Research Fellow for Chinese Political and Security Affairs in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.]

    http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/04/a-national-strategy-for-the-south-china-sea

    Gun-for-hire gang killed Cagayan town mayor – AFP

    From the Manila Times (Apr 27): Gun-for-hire gang killed Cagayan town mayor – AFP

    THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Sunday said the New People’s Army rebels responsible for killing Gonzaga Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr. belonged to a gun-for-hire group.

    Lt. Gen. Gregorio Catapang, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Northern Luzon Command, said rebels who turned themselves into a gun-for-hire group are out to destroy peace, knowing that they could not manipulate the masses if they are enjoying peace and prosperity.

    “These communist remnants target local officials especially those who are performing well in their turf or who have turned their areas into progressive or first class municipalities,” Catapang explained.

    “That is why they threaten or kill local officials who are serving well just like the case in Gonzaga,” Catapang said.

    He said this particular group, which is a remnant NPA rebels conduct activities such as burning of equipment when their owners failed to respond to their wishes or deliver the amount they are demanding.

    “They have lost their cause. They are selling their services and threatening people who refuse to give in to their demands. They extort money from helpless civilians,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Catapang has assured communities that the AFP and the Philippine National Police are ready to secure and defend them “from violence and fear” being sowed by the NPA remnants.

    “We will not allow them to control any area. We will pursue them and crush them,” said Catapang.

    On Wednesday, Catapang went to Gonzaga town to oversee the joint army’s pursuit operations against the armed group.

    He did not comment when asked if the armed group was hired by politicians to assassinate Gonzaga.

    The slain mayor’s family had earlier doubted the involvement of NPA rebels to the killing, saying politics was behind it.

    “I hope it is not. But we are not discounting such possibility. We will not allow political killings to happen. We will not allow anarchy to prevail,” Catapang said.

    Pentecostes, 60, was shot dead by two of eight armed men in camouflage during the regular flag ceremony at the town hall grounds on May 21. He died from nine gunshots to the head and upper body.

    More than 30 armed men in camouflage seized control of the town hall grounds during the attack, disarming three policemen manning the traffic along the national highway.

    A note written in the local dialect said the killing was carried out by the NPA because Pentecostes had allowed national government-sanctioned black sand mining in the area.

    Three days after the incident, NPA’s West Cagayan Front released a statement claiming responsibility citing “espionage.”

    NPA’s West Cagayan Front spokesman Ester Falcon said Pentecostes was “guilty for aiding the military” in their operations against them as primary reason for his execution.

    But Catapang disclosed that the NPA’s Danilo Ben Command operating in Cagayan disowned the mayor’s killing.

    Catapang said they have information that the Danilo Ben Command disowned the killing and the “the action of the armed group was not coordinated with them.”

    http://www.manilatimes.net/gun-for-hire-gang-killed-cagayan-town-mayor-afp/92307/

    US urged to develop Nat’l Strategy for South China Sea

    Posted to the Manila Bulletin (Apr 28): US urged to develop Nat’l Strategy for South China Sea

    The United States should develop and promulgate a National Strategy for the South China Sea (NSSCS) as part of its ongoing efforts to counter Chinese aggression in the region and to resolve the disputes there in a peaceful manner.

    This, according to one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the US, is an effective means of producing the necessary shift in America’s current posture in the South China Sea “from one of vigilant maintenance of the status quo to a position that will foster the peaceful management and ultimately permanent resolution of issues affecting US navigational rights and interests in the region.”

    Specifically, senior security research analysts at the Heritage Foundation said such a national strategy should contain the official position of the US regarding the nature of the disputed land features in the South China Sea.

    The US “no longer has the luxury of staying out of South China Sea sovereignty disputes”" since control of South China Sea land features “is a zero-sum game,” they stressed.

    “Each coral reef and atoll controlled by China is an additional land feature from which China may make excessive claims and that may serve as a justification to disrupt lawful US military activities, including survey and intelligence operations.” the Heritage Foundation pointed out. “To continue to avoid the sovereignty issue, politically sensitive though it is, irresponsibly risks expansion of Chinese control over the South China Sea.”

    The NSSCS should also underscore US policy on military activities in the South China Sea.

    “A legal memorandum emphasizing the US position on its navigational rights in the South China Sea would help to further clarify the matter,” analysts at the Foundation said.

    The NSSCS must likewise contain a legal review of and rejoinder to China’s excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea, including its nine-dash-line map and its domestic legislation purporting to restrict military activities within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

    The Washington DC-based think tank noted that the US issues regular reports on various aspects of the law of the sea in regard to maritime claims made by foreign nations. In fact, since 1970, the US State Department has published more than 130 reports regarding straight baselines, maritime and continental shelf borders, and territorial sea claims.

    This legal review should be published separately as a “Limits in the Seas” report and submitted to the United Nations Law of the Sea Bulletin for publication.

    An affirmation of US “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea should also be included in the NSSCS.

    The Foundation said more frequent naval assertions would signal that the US is elevating the issue beyond “business as usual” in the South China Sea.

    “Optimally, the US should conduct such operations with one or more allies in the region, such as Australia and Japan, that have the naval capabilities to participate,” it stressed. “Vietnam and the Philippines, whose fishing and commercial survey activities have been repeatedly interfered with by China, may also be willing to engage in joint operations.”

    Finally, the NSSCS should contain a statement of support for the Philippines in its arbitration case against China.

    “The United States should not remain a neutral observer in the arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China,” analysts at the Foundation said. “A decision in arbitration in favor of the Philippines, discrediting the nine-dash line, would advance US interests.”

    Relative to this, the Heritage Foundation said the US should urge other nations—particularly Vietnam and Malaysia and also Brunei and Indonesia—to openly support the Philippines and to initiate arbitration cases of their own against China on the same legal grounds.

    “Since these nations have chosen to be party to UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Seas) , they may as well take advantage of its dispute resolution process to attempt to peacefully resolve the legality of China’s excessive claims,” said the Foundation. “China will undoubtedly refuse to arbitrate with any nation, which should further isolate it from other South China Sea nations.”

    And since several South China Sea nations other than China have made excessive maritime claims, including claims restricting access to their territorial sea and the exercise of military activities in their EEZs, the Heritage Foundation said the US needs to convince its friends and allies in the region to bring their domestic law and practice into compliance with the law of the sea because such claims permit China to take the position that it is acting in the same manner as its neighbors.

    “The United States should, through bilateral negotiations, work with South China Sea nations to abandon their excessive claims and thereby present a united legal front to China,” the Foundation said. “US assistance to these nations to resolve any outstanding maritime boundary issues would also be helpful.”

    America should also preempt potentially harmful provisions of an South China Sea “code of conduct” which the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have been negotiating for many years.

    The Foundation said firm legal position regarding military activities in the EEZ will make clear that the US will not consent to a code of conduct that violates either customary international law or UNCLOS.

    Specifically, the NSSCS should note that any code of conduct that purports to restrict or prohibit military activities in the South China Sea or in any EEZ is unacceptable and that the US will not comply with any such restriction, it added.

    Although there is no guarantee that China will alter its behavior for the better if the US shifts its policies in the manner recommended by analysts at the Heritage Foundation, which was ranked fifth in Foreign Policy magazine’s 2009 list of the nation’s most influential think tanks, the release of an NSSCS may precipitate additional Chinese aggression in the short term.

    “These policy recommendations are not meant to create an immediate beneficial effect, but instead are designed to shape the conditions in the South China Sea so that the festering disputes may be peacefully and definitively resolved in the mid-to-long term,” the Foundation emphasized.

    Developing national security strategy documents regarding strategic regions is nothing new for the US, it pointed out. For instance, the Foundation noted that the Obama Administration already released two strategy documents in the past relating to US interests in the Arctic.

    “Whether in the Asia–Pacific or another strategic region, it is hardly unprecedented that the United States should promulgate a comprehensive policy statement regarding its strategic interests in the South China Sea,” it said.

    http://www.mb.com.ph/us-urged-to-develop-natl-strategy-for-south-china-sea/

    Key AFP units in 'blue alert' for Obama visit

    From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 27): Key AFP units in 'blue alert' for Obama visit

    With US President Barack Obama arriving in the country Monday for a two-day visit, key units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were placed in "blue alert".

    This was disclosed by AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala Sunday.

    These units include General Headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo and the respective headquarters of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

    Under the "blue alert" status, the military can easily mobilize 50 percent of its strength should the need arises.

    Meanwhile, the AFP's Joint Task Force-NCR (National Capital Region) is placed on "red alert" status.

    This is because the above-mentioned unit is the one that will support the Philippine National Police (PNP) in law enforcement missions and will be on stand-by to support the Presidential Security Group (PSG), which is the lead agency in securing Obama's visit.

    "Red alert" means all available Joint Task Force officers and men must report immediately to their respective places of assignment.

    "PSG is lead agency regarding security of President Obama in coordination with the US Secret Service," Zagala stressed.

    The US Secret Service contingent has been in the Philippines since April 21.

    The AFP public affairs office chief added that these units will work together in all security concerns during the visit.

    "AFP and the PNP will be in support together with the Department of Transportation and Communications and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. Other government agencies will also support security requirements when tasked," he added.

    "The AFP through the PSG will ensure the protection of President Obama and is confident in the vast experience and capabilities of the PSG in VIP protection," he stressed.

    http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=638426

    Malacanang says PNP ready for Obama visit, calls on militant groups to keep protest in check

    From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 27): Malacanang says PNP ready for Obama visit, calls on militant groups to keep protest in check
     
    Malacanang said on Sunday that the Philippine National Police and all law enforcement agencies are ready for the two-day visit of US President Barack Obama.

    In a briefing aired over government radio dzRB Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said even the Metro Manila Development Authority has ensured the "safety of our roads for the event" on Monday.

    “Handa na po ang pwersa ng Philippine National Police, kabilang na rin ang Metro Manila Development Authority na tinututukan ang kaayusan ng ating lansangan,” Coloma said.

    He appealed to members of militant organizations to keep their protest actions safe and within bounds of the law.

    “Yun naman pong pagpapahayag ng ating mga kababayan ay bahagi ng dialogo ng isang demokrasya. Bukas naman po ang ating pamahalaaang makinig sa kanilang saloobin. Ang panawagan lang po natin ay mapanatili sana nilang maayos at naaayon sa batas ang kanilang pamamahayag,” Coloma said.

    http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=638450

    President Obama’s visit aims to strengthen strategic relationship between US and Philippines --Palace

    From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 27): President Obama’s visit aims to strengthen strategic relationship between US and Philippines --Palace

    The visit of President Barak Obama to the country starting Monday is aimed to strengthen strategic relations between the United States and the Republic of the Philippines, a Malacanang official said on Sunday.

    Presidential Communication Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said when President Benigno S. Aquino III and President Obama meet, they will talk about bilateral relations on three major fronts.

    Coloma said these will be: “Strengthening political and security cooperation; expanding trade and investments, tourism and development cooperation; and, on deepening people-to-people ties.”

    According to the PCOO Secretary, the country already has strong ties with the US as there are an estimated 2.27 million Filipinos living in the States, while some 670,000 tourists from the US visited the Philippines in 2013.

    In the economic development aspect, the Communications Secretary said US-RP partnership is focused on meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

    He said this is through direct economic assistance and improving public infrastructure, achieving significant poverty reduction, and supporting the administration’s good governance and anti-corruption agenda.

    The US is the second largest destination of Philippine exports.

    http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=638452

    PHL-US sign EDCA Monday

    From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 27): PHL-US sign EDCA Monday

    The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) would be signed Monday morning.

    In a statement, Department of National Defense (DND) media relations officer Prime Berunia on Sunday said the signing ceremony would take place at 10 a.m. at the Armed Forces of the Philippine-Commissioned Officers' Club in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

    Signatories for the Philippines side would be DND Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg for the American side.

    No other details regarding specific information of the EDCA were released.

    Early this April, the Philippine and US negotiating panel formally concluded the 8th round of talks for the proposed EDCA.

    Both sides have found consensus on key points of a draft agreement.

    Defense undersecretary and Philippines negotiating panel chair Pio Lorenzo Batino described the latest round of discussions as “very productive” and cited consensus on key provisions and modalities that would reflect, among others, full respect for Philippine sovereignty, non-permanence of US troops and no US military basing in the Philippines and a prohibition against weapons of mass destruction.

    President Benigno S. Aquino III earlier instructed the Philippines panel to comply with and keep within relevant provisions of the Philippine Constitution and Laws.

    The draft agreement, which is anchored on mutuality of benefits, states that United States access to and use of Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) facilities and areas would be “at the invitation of the Philippines and with full respect for the Philippine Constitution and Philippine laws.”

    In addition, in compliance with the Philippine Constitution, the agreement would also state the understanding of both sides for the United States “not to establish a permanent military presence or base in the territory of the Philippines.”

    Furthermore, Bation said the United States has agreed that any equipment and materiél that the US military may bring into the country “shall not include nuclear weapons.”

    The agreement would have robust provisions on protection of the environment, human health and safety.

    “This round brought us much closer to finding full consensus, and the draft provisions on key points of an enhanced defense cooperation will be submitted to the President for his review,” Batino said.

    For her part, member of the Philippine panel Ambassador Lourdes Yparraguirre, pointed out that the Philippines-United States alliance ”continues to be and must remain relevant”and that in the framework of a dynamic and changing regional architecture" and "our only option is to make our alliance stronger if we are to maintain international and regional security.”

    Stating that the agreement is “a step towards realizing that objective,” Yparraguirre said that “as we strive to further enhance our security cooperation, we are looking into new dimensions of significant strategic and operational value.”

    She also cited potential economic benefits from the agreement resulting from multiplier effects of joint activities under the proposed agreement.

    Batino emphasized that the proposed agreement would provide significant benefits to the Philippines, notably critical and timely support to the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, achievement of the country’s minimum credible defense posture, more expeditious humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), and the provision of jobs and other economic opportunities through the local goods and supplies procurement that will be made by the United States military.

    “Both the Philippines and the United States recognize these are valuable dimensions to this updated framework of cooperation, and we are working together for the realization of the full potentials of this closer defense partnership,” Yparraguirre pointed out.

    Highlighting the “maturing relations” between the two allies, Yparraguirre said that the agreement being negotiated contemplates a “new model of security engagement” for both the Philippines and the United States.

    “After 15 years of the Visiting Forces Agreement and given current realities, challenges and opportunities, the Philippines is ready for a heightened level of defense cooperation. This agreement - which should stand on mutual trust - is an idea whose time has come,” Batino stressed.

    The other members of the Philippine negotiating panel are Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya, Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III and Defense assistant secretary for strategic assessments Raymund Jose Quilop.

    http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=638433