How to stop China from building military infrastructures on West PH Sea? Chinese Greenie has idea

From InterAksyon (Jul 16): How to stop China from building military infrastructures on West PH Sea? Chinese Greenie has idea


Chinese environmentalist Wen Bo, July 2016. PHOTO BY VERONICA UY

Experts, including Supreme Court Justice and principal proponent in the case Antonio Carpio, agree that the ruling of the international arbitral tribunal for the Philippines in its territorial dispute against China may not be enforceable. But a Chinese environmentalist has an idea on how to stop his country from building military infrastructures in the Spratlys: Use the Green card.

“I think we should approach [the dispute] from marine conservation because no government has the right to destroy the eco system, the endangered species, corals, sea turtles, tropical fish, and dolphins,” Wen Bo told InterAksyon.com at the sidelines of the Asia-Europe People’s Forum early July.

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Wen, who helped start the Greenpeace office in Beijing and who is now with the Global Greengrants Fund, said: “Those species need protection regardless of who the territory belongs to, or who claims sovereignty of the islands or marine territory.”

“It’s wrong to build things that will destroy this eco system. This could be a good argument to stop continuous construction on these islands,” he added.

Wen said that aside from China’s reclamation initiatives on the Spratlys, Chinese smugglers have been known to poach fish and other marine resources from both disputed and Philippine waters, in violation of local and international laws, particularly laws on maritime conservation.

“You know that the corals are from the Philippines. In 2003, I saw that when they reached the Chinese port in 2003, the corals were wrapped in Cebu newspapers…This has been going on for a long time. Law enforcement is loose,” he said.

Why are coral reefs important? According to environmentalists http://www.icriforum.org/about-coral-reefs/benefits-coral-reefs, coral reefs provide the following:

• Habitat: Home to over 1 million diverse aquatic species, including thousands of fish species
• Income: Billions of dollars and millions of jobs in over 100 countries around the world
• Food: For people living near coral reefs, especially on small islands
• Protection: A natural barrier protecting coastal cities, communities, and beaches
• Medicine: The potential for treatments for many of the world's most prevalent and dangerous illnesses and diseases

Chinese military construction on Spratlys

In August 2015, Reuters cited a Pentagon report noting that China has been building a military airstrip on the Fiery Cross Reef off Palawan. Although the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam also have claims over the rock formations, China has control of the area.

Also known as Kagitingan Reef, Fiery Cross Reef has been occupied by China since 1988. But in December 2013, after the Scarborough standoff with the Philippines in April 2012, China started reclaiming the area, converting it into an artificial island of 1,170 hectares of land as of June 2015.

At the reclamation sites in the Spratlys, southwest of the Scarborough Shoal, China has excavated deep channels and constructed new berthing areas to allow access for larger ships, the same report said.

In connection with this, Chinese troops have been seen on the reef since late 2014, with more support troops coming in for the new airbase. An early warning radar system has also been reported set up on the reef.

In early August 2015, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing had halted the land reclamation.

China had reclaimed 17 times more land in 20 months than the other claimants combined over the past 40 years, accounting for approximately 95 percent of all reclaimed land in the Spratlys, the Pentagon report said.

Challenges for marine ecology framework

Can China be convinced to stop building military facilities on the reefs it controls?
“Obviously there are challenges to persuade them,” Wen said. “But the thing is if they have higher awareness of the ecological value of these coral reefs, I think they could understand the logic behind why we need to protect these coral reefs.”

Wen said awareness raising about the need for conservation should not be confined to China and its officials, but throughout the southeast Asian region, including Filipinos and Philippine officials.

“Conserving the eco system will benefit everybody, including fishermen and the coastal community,” he said. “It would reduce the possibility of conflict because the conflict is over fishing rights.”

Wen noted that fish stocks have collapsed in many coastal states along China’s coast. “Chinese fishermen have to go farther and farther to catch fewer and fewer fish. There is a need to build peace in that area,” he said.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have overlapping claims.

The territorial dispute intensified during the April 2012 standoff between China and the Philippines at the Scarborough Shoal, which is about 124 nautical miles off the main Philippine island of Luzon. China has since occupied the shoal, preventing Filipino fishermen from fishing In the area.

Later, China built on the coral reefs and islands at the disputed reefs in the West Philippine Sea southwest of Scarborough off Palawan, claiming sovereignty on the basis of the so-called nine-dash line.

Manila lodged a challenge under a UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) in January 2013. The arbitral tribunal released its decision on July 12 this year, taking the side of the Philippines in the arguments over rights of maritime access.

http://interaksyon.com/article/130416/how-to-stop-china-from-building-military-infrastructures-on-west-ph-sea-chinese-greenie-has-idea