China court warns of jail time for illegal fishing in answer to South China Sea ruling

From InterAksyon (Aug 2): China court warns of jail time for illegal fishing in answer to South China Sea ruling

China's Supreme Court said on Tuesday that people caught illegally fishing in Chinese waters could be jailed for up to a year, issuing a judicial interpretation defining those waters as including China's exclusive economic zones.

This developed as Japan's annual defense review expressed "deep concern" over what it sees as China's coercion as a more assertive Beijing flouts international rules when dealing with other nations.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled last month that China has no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it has breached the Philippines' sovereign rights with its actions, infuriating Beijing which dismissed the case.

None of China's reefs and holdings in the Spratly Islands entitled it to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, the court decided.

Although the Chinese Supreme Court made no direct mention of the South China Sea or The Hague ruling, said its judicial interpretation was made in accordance with both Chinese law and the United Nations' Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which the Philippines had also bought its case.

"Judicial power is an important component of national sovereignty," the Supreme Court said.

"People's courts will actively exercise jurisdiction over China's territorial waters, support administrative departments to legally perform maritime management duties ... and safeguard Chinese territorial sovereignty and maritime interests."

Jurisdictional seas covered by the interpretation include contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves, it added.

People who illegally enter Chinese territorial waters and refuse to leave after being driven out, or who re-enter after being driven away or being fined in the past year, will be considered to have committed "serious" criminal acts and could get up to a year in jail, the Supreme Court said.

"The explanation offers legal guarantees for marine fishing law enforcement," it added.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

China periodically detains fishermen, especially from the Philippines and Vietnam, and Chinese fishermen also occasionally get detained by other claimants in the South China Sea.

On the other hand, the Defense White Paper approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, Japan warned that "unintended consequences" could result from Beijing's assertive disregard of international rules.

"China is poised to fulfill its unilateral demands without compromise," the government said in the review.

Japan has no territorial claims in the South China Sea, but it fears that Chinese military bases will bolster Beijing's influence over a region through which $5 trillion in trade passes every year, much of it to and from Japanese ports.

Rather than confront China directly by sailing warships past its man-made island bases in the sea, Japan is providing equipment and training to other claimant nations, including the Philippines and Vietnam, which are most opposed to China's territorial ambitions.

Beijing's most powerful adversary in Asia is the United States, with its Seventh Fleet operating from bases in Japan and South Korea. Japan has Asia's second-biggest indigenous navy. The defense review noted China's growing capability to threaten naval vessels with its growing armory of anti-ship missiles.

At 484 pages, Japan's document is more than a tenth longer than last year's report, and lays out other security concerns, such as the threat from neighboring North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear bomb programs and a revival of Russian military strength in the Far East.

It takes 50 pages to outline Japan's deepening alliance with the United States, as Tokyo takes a step back from its war-renouncing constitution by easing curbs on overseas operations for its Self Defense Forces.

http://interaksyon.com/article/131017/china-court-warns-of-jail-time-for-illegal-fishing-in-answer-to-south-china-sea-ruling