One of the World’s Biggest Fisheries Is on the Verge of Collapse: Major disputes in the South China Sea are putting critical habitat-and the food supply of millions-at risk.
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AFTER telling the Chinese ambassador in Davao City that any bilateral talks between the Philippines and China will have to be based on the recent ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, President Duterte announced during the National Heroes Day rites at the Libingan ng mga Bayani last Monday that he will “keep silent” and avoid flaunting the arbitral court ruling for now.
The U.S. and others have called on Beijing to respect the ruling, and the case threatens to tarnish China’s desired image as a full-fledged member of worldwide society. “We are also both interested not in fanning the flames of conflict but to encourage parties to resolve their disputes and claims through the legal process”.
There are two things that are remarkable about Kerry’s thoughts on this matter.
Vietnam has appreciated India’s position on the PCA ruling.
Hinting that China needs to abide by the Hague tribunal’s verdict on the South China Sea, Indian envoy to Vietnam P. Harish on Friday advocated that all parties must respect the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) while emphasizing that New Delhi has constantly advocated that freedom of passage in global waters is important for trade. I don’t go to war, so if I do not, then peace is the only means. PoK is a key transit point in the ambitious $45 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor that will give Beijing access to the Arabian Sea through the port of Gwadar.
More remarkable, though, is Kerry’s utterance about military solutions. According to Kyodo News Agency, Amabassador Cheng Yonghua had told a Japanese official that should Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force join up with USA -led freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea, Japan would have cross a “red line”.
About South China dispute, the two sides “stressed the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, and unimpeded lawful commerce throughout the region, including in the South China Sea”. For fishermen to follow the regulations for any given nation – whether it’s China, Indonesia or the Philippines – would essentially acknowledge the claims of that power to the fishery and, thus, the territory. Manila knows its position is weak – China’s military is vastly more powerful than its own.
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None of this precludes USA diplomacy with China, but Kerry’s efforts at conflict resolution undermine such diplomacy at a time when Chinese aggression has been censured by an worldwide tribunal. He asked China to treat Filipinos as brothers, not enemies. “We have a very strong training component and human resource development component in our defence relationship”, Harish said. These include things like U.S. Navy convoys to accompany Filipino fishermen into waters claimed by China, or sailing more aggressive missions into the waters surrounding China’s artificial islands.
