Any fishing boats refusing to leave Chinese waters or caught fishing illegally there a couple of times in a year are subject to a fine, while the crew could be given a prison term of up to one year.
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The live-fire drills that began August 1 follow China’s strident rejection of an worldwide arbitration panel’s ruling last month that invalidated Beijing’s claims to a vast swath of the South China Sea.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to the sea, through which over $5 trillion in annual trade passes.
The report says China’s intervention on the South China Sea makes the Beijing to accept recent worldwide negotiation ruling. He disparaged the verdict has having “no legal basis” and noted that China needed to disregard the verdict – which is binding, though the Hague tribunal has no enforcement mechanism – to “protect the dignity of global law”.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing’s territorial claims in the region have “no legal basis”.
“Our consistent policy is to settle disputes through peaceful means in accordance with national laws and United Nations (conventions and laws), and we attach quite (a lot of) importance to bilateral negotiations”, he said.
China’s sweeping claims over the strategic South China Sea, where it has built a series of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations despite overlapping claims from other nations, have stoked worldwide alarm.
However, the analysts think that the new rules are not only linked to the tribunal outcome but also to the nation’s aspiration to become a maritime power and a maritime judicial centre.
CHINA’S Defence Ministry angrily rejected accusations from Japan yesterday that it is destabilising the regional military balance by seeking to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas.
China’s leadership is resisting pressure from elements within the military for a more forceful response to an worldwide court ruling against Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, sources said, wary of provoking a clash with the United States.
Since then, China has routinely dispatched coastguard vessels and patrol planes to the area and a Chinese warship recently entered a strip of water just outside Japanese-claimed waters.
That arbitration, which China refused to participate in, has lingered over the South China Sea in the three-and-half years since.
When asked if the Philippines will now fix its facilities in the Kalayaan Group of Islands, he said it is not yet a priority.
Two days ago while addressing a reception to celebrate 89th founding anniversary of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China said it will “staunchly” protect the country’s maritime rights and interests and is “fully confident and capable of addressing various security threats and provocations”.
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Jose said that while the tribunal ruling was clear, the “reality on the ground” was different.
