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Asian Nations Unite Against the Chinese Bully; Asian nations against China's greed and arrogance
Topic Started: Fri May 16, 2014 10:13 am (408 Views)
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US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, poses for photos with his Japanese cpounterpart Itsunori Onodera, right, and Australian counterpart David Johnston, before the start of their meeting, Friday, May 30, 2014 in Singapore. Hagel is in Singapore to attend the 13th Asia Security Summit. AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Philippines defends US, Australia's remarks vs China

(philstar.com) | Updated June 3, 2014 - 11:27am

MANILA, Philippines — A Malacañang official said on Tuesday that the United States and Australia were not trying to shame China when officials from the two nations recently spoke against the Asian giant's perceived aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

Speaking to state-run dzRB radio on Tuesday, Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) head Herminio Coloma Jr. said the US and Australia were only asserting that stability should be ensured in the region amid the increasing tensions in the disputed waters.

"Sinasabi lamang nila, hindi dapat magkaroon ng mga kaganapan na bumabasag sa katahimikan at kaayusan o sa istabilidad ng South China Sea dahil sa kahalagahan nito sa lahat ng mga bansa, hindi lamang sa rehiyon, kung hindi sa buong pandaigdigang ekonomiya," Coloma said.

"Hindi naman gustong pahiyain o pulaan ang anumang bansa; hindi naman nilalait ang kahit anong bansa diyan," the Palace official added.

During the Asian Security Forum held in Singapore over the weekend, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said China's territorial claims in the Asia-Pacific are destabilizing the region, adding that the failure to resolve the disputes threatens East Asia's long-term progress.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday that Australian Defense Minister David Johnston backed up Hagel, saying "the US, Australia and Japan are very concerned that unilateral action is destabilizing the region of the South China Sea particularly, and East China Sea."

China, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations have overlapping claims in the potentially oil and resource-rich South China Sea.

Beijing is pressing its sovereignty over virtually the entire contested waters through its "nine-dash" line claim, while the Philippines has filed an arbitration case before a United Nations tribunal.

Tensions increased recently after China deployed an oil rig off the coast of Vietnam. The Philippines also protested China's reclamation efforts in the Mabini Reef.

Coloma said peace and security in the South China Sea is not only important to the Philippines and other claimants.

"Kaya para maging maunlad ang mga ekonomiya ng mga bansa sa rehiyon natin at sa buong mundo rin, kinakailangan iyong katiyakan na magkaroon ng freedom of navigation na patuloy iyong katiyakan ng katahimikan sa buong karagatan.

He said the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea states that claimants of the contested waters should peacefull resolve their territorial disputes. - Louis Bacani

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/06/03/1330570/philippines-defends-us-australias-remarks-vs-china
Edited by Flipzi, Mon Jun 9, 2014 12:37 am.
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PHL, Vietnamese troops drink beer, play volleyball on disputed isle

By MANUEL MOGATO, ReutersJune 8, 2014 4:04pm

Vietnamese and Philippine troops got together on a disputed island in the South China Sea on Sunday to play soccer and volleyball—as well as drink beer—in a display of unity that will not go unnoticed in Beijing.

Philippine naval officials billed the event on the Vietnamese-held island as a chance to show the world there can be harmony in the South China Sea despite a web of overlapping claims to the potentially energy-rich waters.

The gathering on Southwest Cay in the Spratly archipelago also symbolizes how once-suspicious neighbours are cooperating in the face of China's growing assertiveness in disputed waters.

About 40 Philippine naval personnel sailed to the island for the day-long event, Philippine naval officials said.

Coincidentally, the Philippines occupied Southwest Cay until early 1975, when troops from then South Vietnam seized it after Philippine forces sailed a couple of miles to Northeast Cay, which was under Manila's control, for a party.

The South Vietnamese were soon displaced by the communist forces of a victorious Hanoi.

Besides playing soccer and volleyball, the troops held a tug-of-war competition, put on cultural shows involving singing and dancing and shared food and beer, said Philippine naval spokesman, Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Fabic.

In a joint statement, the Philippine and Vietnamese navies said the sport and cultural presentations would help foster friendly ties.

"This serves as a model of cooperation for other navies to emulate," said the statement, without naming any other countries.

The gathering underscores the growing cooperation between Hanoi and Manila—the two capitals most feeling China's wrath over the South China Sea—even though both still claim Southwest Cay and dispute other islands. Southwest Cay is almost equidistant from Vietnam and the Philippines.

"We are not only bringing down walls of mistrust and suspicion with one another but building trust and confidence towards peacefully resolving our competing claims," said a senior Philippine naval official, who declined to be identified.


China driving countries together

The Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei each claim some of the Spratlys, while China, Taiwan and Vietnam claim the whole chain.

China also claims 90 percent of the 3.5 million sq km (1.35 million sq mile) South China Sea, its reach displayed on its official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that extends deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Beijing accuses the other claimants of stirring up trouble in the region.

Diplomats and experts have described the nascent partnership between Hanoi and Manila as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the U.S. commitment to the region.

They have said there were increasing levels of trust at a working level, as countries find that China's projection of naval power into Asia's waters is driving them together.

Most recently, Vietnam expressed interest in a legal case Manila filed at an international arbitration tribunal in late March, challenging China over its claims in the South China Sea.

Indeed, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said last month his government was considering taking legal action against China following the deployment of a Chinese oil rig to waters that Hanoi also claims. Vietnamese officials have not elaborated.

The Philippine and Vietnamese navies recently agreed to expand cooperation in disputed areas and a Vietnamese guided missile cruiser will soon visit Manila, Philippine naval officials have said. — Reuters

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/364750/news/nation/phl-vietnamese-troops-drink-beer-play-volleyball-on-disputed-isle
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China Denounces Vietnam-Philippines Goodwill Games

‪#‎BEIJING‬, -- China has denounced soccer and volleyball games between Vietnamese and Philippines troops held on an island claimed by Beijing, but controlled by Hanoi.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Monday called the previous day's goodwill meeting "a clumsy farce," adding that “China has irrefutable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and the seas nearby.”

The Vietnamese-held island of Southwest Cay is part of the Spratly Island chain claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim sections of the chain.

Analysts have told VOA Hanoi apparently is committed to deepening its relationship with Manila in the face of similar maritime disputes with China.

The AFP news service described Sunday’s games as “a landmark act of sports diplomacy.” It cited a joint statement by the Philippines and Vietnam, which said the two countries "deem that this activity serves as a proof that disputes do not hinder development of practical and tangible cooperation between the two navies."

Vietnamese ships continue to clash with Chinese ships near a controversial oil rig that Beijing placed in disputed waters last month.

Hanoi has accused China of firing water cannons at and ramming Vietnamese fishing boats, including one that sank last month. Beijing says that Vietnam is the aggressor and that its ships have rammed Chinese vessels more than 1,000 times.

Posted Image

(PHOTO) Vietnamese naval servicemen and Filipino naval servicemen play volleyball on Sunday during a friendly match on Vietnam-held Song Tu Tay or Southwest Cay island of the disputed Spratly Islands on South China Sea. credit to Philippine Navy 2020

http://bit.ly/SIvcnV
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Abe aims to get cabinet approval for collective self-defense by June 22

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is speeding up efforts to get cabinet approval on the issue of collective self-defense -- a re-interpretation of the constitution that will allow Japan to militarily assist allies that come under attack.

Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday that Abe has reportedly instructed senior officials to prepare for cabinet approval before the session ends on June 22nd.

Following his orders, a senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader asked government officials to prepare a draft of the constitutional reinterpretation.

Abe has also ordered his ruling party to quickly reach an agreement with New Komeito, its ruling coalition partner, which has been at odds with Abe over his push to revamp the country's defense policy.

http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=163607
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BOOSTING TIES. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (right) gestures as he talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung after their joint media statement at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila on May 21, 2014. Photo by AFP/Aaron Favila/Pool

Philippines, Vietnam can share disputed sea – envoy

Joint exploration, however, won't work with China. Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong says it will be like recognizing China's claim and falling into its trap.

Paterno Esmaquel II
Published 9:30 AM, Jun 14, 2014
Updated 10:25 AM, Jun 14, 2014

MANILA, Philippines – To keep peace and stability in the South China Sea, the Philippines and Vietnam can share marine resources in the disputed waters, the Vietnamese ambassador told Rappler as tensions rise between Hanoi and Beijing.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong, however, said the same idea will not work with China.

“From my own point of view, I think that we can share and we can put aside differences, and we can jointly cooperate with each other to explore it,” Duong said weeks after China allegedly attacked Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea and injured 6.

The 58-year-old ambassador explained that overlapping claims between the Philippines and Vietnam, after all, involve only “some small areas.” China, on the other hand, is claiming virtually the entire South China Sea – parts of which the Philippines claims as the West Philippine Sea, and as for Vietnam, the East Sea.

“The Philippines and Vietnam, we have some small areas. It's different. But for China, if we put differences aside and jointly cooperate with each other, like it or not, well, and in fact, it's just like recognizing China's claim – just like recognizing China's claim because China is claiming the whole sea,” Duong said.

“So we'll fall into the trap of China,” he said.


'That goodwill evaporated'

China has pushed for the joint exploration of the disputed waters – but always under the premise that it exercises indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea.

In 2005, Vietnam joined the Philippines and China in an agreement to jointly explore the disputed waters. The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking expired in 2008 without the government extending it, however, in the face of public criticism.

In 2013, Vietnam and China again “agreed to establish a maritime work group for joint development at sea,” the Voice of America (VOA) reported. Duong Danh Dy, former Vietnamese consul general to Guangzhou, China, however dismissed this agreement as “just diplomatic rhetoric.”

“Vietnamese and Chinese interests over the South China Sea are like fire and water. Both countries claim sovereignty over the disputed islands in the area. The Chinese government has a long-term expansionist goal and it is willing to wait for an opportunity in 10, 20, 30, or even 100 years. It would not give up the South China Sea unless China is weakened,” the diplomat said, according to VOA.

The New York Times also noted Vietnam and China's announcement in 2013 “that they would try to find ways to jointly develop oil and gas fields.” “That goodwill evaporated,” however, because of the oil rig incident this year, the New York Times said.

Vietnam on Philippines: 'We can talk'

For now, then, one of Vietnam's best options is to boost ties with the Philippines as it did on Sunday, June 8, in a landmark act of sports diplomacy aimed to ease tensions in the South China Sea.

During his interview with Rappler, Duong explained that the Philippines and Vietnam “share a lot in common.” (Watch more in the video below)

He said the two countries, for one, belong to the same regional bloc – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Both countries also signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, a key regional declaration in 2002 that upholds “self-restraint” in activities that will worsen the sea disputes.

“The Philippines and Vietnam, we are kind of a peaceful people. And we do not want to overpower one another, so we can talk. We can talk,” he said.

In contrast, he said: “China does not want to talk. It resorts to...some kind of forceful measures, in defiance of international law.”

When asked if Vietnam is considering filing a case against the Philippines over the South China Sea, Duong said: “No. Never. That would be unthinkable – because between the Philippines and Vietnam, we are now having...very good relations.... And it's not worth fighting when we can still solve everything peacefully.”

The most important thing he wants to stress, Duong said, is that the Philippines and Vietnam should “stand united” so they could “win.”

“We are on the same side.” – Rappler.com

http://www.rappler.com/nation/60511-vietnam-philippines-joint-exploration-south-china-sea

VIDEO Vietnam, Philippines can share disputed sea, ambassador says

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8T1RJn9ftg

Posted Image
'ON SAME SIDE.' A Vietnamese child peers from Vietnam and Philippines flags while waiting for the arrival of Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at Villamor Airbase in Pasay, south of Manila, Philippines on May 21, 2014. File photo by Dennis Sabangan/EPA
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New ASEAN Anti-Cyber Skills Aimed at China

Japan and the U.S. are using ASEAN to further crack down on Chinese cybercrimes.

By Clint Richards
June 09, 2014

On Saturday, Japanese government sources announced that the U.S. and Japan would work to help the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) boost its technical abilities to investigate cybercrimes, according to Kyodo News. The two countries will contribute $400,000 to send anti-cybercrime experts by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime to ASEAN members.

This news comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had charged five officers in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with cybercrimes. According to the DOJ press release, the five are accused of “computer hacking, economic espionage, and other offences directed at six American victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries.”

As my colleague Shannon noted, the Chinese media responded to the charges with two assertions. The first was that the charges were patently false, and that the Chinese government had no part in state-sponsored cybercrimes. The second was that the U.S. charges were hypocritical, with the Chinese press calling the U.S. the biggest cyber bully, and pointing out that it spent $447 million on the U.S. Cyber Command this year. The Chinese media also noted the extensive evidence of worldwide U.S. cyber espionage produced by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.

The Japanese government source said it was important to help ASEAN fight cybercrime with technical assistance because “China is suspected of conducting cyberattacks against Japan, the United States and others through servers in the Southeast Asian region.” The two allies hope that by the spring of next year ASEAN countries will have finished training on how to gather evidence and analyze information. Once that is completed, the U.S. and Japanese “governments are considering setting up a consultative body to bolster information sharing with ASEAN.”

While there has been no official response from either ASEAN or any of its individual members, the news will likely be more than welcome for countries like the Philippines and Vietnam that are currently engaged in tense territorial disputes with China. Chinese cyber capabilities are expansive, and so members currently at odds with China will seek added protection. China has yet to respond as well. While the amount of funds Japan and the U.S. are contributing isn’t large, it is the attempt to coordinate anti-cyber activity against China in the region that will give Beijing cause for concern. China will most likely attempt to work with its allies within ASEAN to keep the size and scope of this project to a minimum, while publicly confronting Japan and the U.S. over this latest round of cybercrime accusations.

http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/new-asean-anti-cyber-skills-aimed-at-china/
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China’s aggression could see formation of a powerful anti-China alliance

POSTED BY CRAIG HILL ⋅ JUNE 14, 2014

The China-Vietnam confrontation in the South China Sea continues to roil Asia.

Gun battles have yet to erupt in the disputed Paracel Island maritime zone where, in early May, China deployed a very large oil exploration and drilling ship. In lieu of anti-ship missiles and fighter-bombers, the antagonists are using media, political and legal-judicial weapons.

Restraint by both Hanoi and Beijing is good news. However, both countries believe vital national interests are at risk. Vietnam has warned, repeatedly, that restraint has limits.

Both countries maintain flotillas of fishing boats, small ships and other sea craft in the contested area. Actual physical violence at sea has been limited to ramming incidents and water cannons splashing an opponent. Ramming, of course, is an ancient form of naval attack, still used on occasion. On May 26, a Chinese ship rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat. Hanoi called the incident an intentional attack; Beijing called it an accident and blamed the Vietnamese boat. According to Hanoi, at least two dozen other Vietnamese vessels have been damaged by Chinese ships since early May.

Deadly violence has occurred on land as well. Riots targeting ethnic Chinese erupted in several Vietnamese cities. China claimed four people were killed and over 300 injured. China also evacuated some 2,000 civilians from Vietnam.

Restraint? Neither side is backing down. This week China decided to take the dispute with Vietnam to the U.N., where China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has a veto.

One on one, China versus Vietnam — Vietnam definitely has the weaker hand. Chinese military and economic capabilities vastly exceed those of the Vietnamese. To rectify the imbalance of power, Vietnam is seeking a Cold War-era solution: a relationship with the U.S.

China knows that U.S. military and political support for the Philippines, and potentially Vietnam, blunts Beijing’s enormous power advantage. Since 1949, when the Communists seized mainland China and the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan, U.S. power has backed up Taiwan’s independence and frustrated mainland demands for unification.

If an immediate U.S.-Vietnam alliance seems like a stretch, even the suggestion of U.S. defence cooperation gives Hanoi leverage. Vietnam could offer U.S. naval forces the use of Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay base facility. The irony is palpable. The U.S. built Cam Ranh during the Vietnam War.

A shooting war is not in Beijing’s interest. China’s Communist leaders know their nation’s economic miracle buys domestic peace. Arguably any Asian war involving China could harm its trade-based economy. A war pitting China against the U.S. and/or Japan would wreak global economic damage.

However, over the last 20 years, its actions demonstrate that it does not accept political boundary as currently drawn. Though these actions are often accompanied (or masked) by vague or opaque political statements, over the last five years they have become increasingly aggressive.

Vietnam contends that China’s decision to deploy the oil drilling ship is a major step in the process of achieving a long-range goal: extending Chinese sovereignty to the “nine-dash line.” This maritime boundary line dips south for hundreds of kilometres from China’s southern coast to near the island of Borneo. Borneo is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. Beijing’s claims put it in direct conflict with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Which is why Vietnamese diplomats now tell their East and Southeast Asian compatriots that Chinese expansionism means, “if we’re in the neighbourhood, we’re all in this together.” Vietnam and the Philippines are discussing security cooperation. South Korea and Vietnam have also discussed common security interests. By provoking its neighbours, China has created political conditions that could lead to the creation of a rather muscular “neighbourhood” defence alliance.

http://chinadailymail.com/2014/06/14/chinas-aggression-could-see-formation-of-a-powerful-anti-china-alliance/
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Vietnam, Japan stand up to China

Agence France-Presse
5:20 am | Friday, June 13th, 2014

UNITED NATIONS—Vietnam and Japan are standing up to China in their maritime disputes, with Hanoi going to the United Nations for world help in expelling a Chinese oil rig from its waters and Tokyo summoning Beijing’s ambassador for a stinging rebuke over “dangerous” flights by Chinese jet fighters in Japanese airspace.

China has attempted to picture Vietnam in the United Nations as the offender in the East Sea, accusing Hanoi on Monday of sending ships to ram Chinese vessels protecting a deepwater oil drilling rig that it moved to Vietnamese waters on May 1.

Vietnam has hit back against China at UN headquarters in New York, ordering Beijing to withdraw the oil rig and stop “interfering” with maritime safety in the East Sea, part of the South China Sea within Hanoi’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone recognized under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The Vietnamese mission asked its position paper to be circulated to the General Assembly, becoming the second claimant to territory in the South China Sea to bring its dispute with Beijing to the United Nations.

Philippine action

In January last year, the Philippines took its own territorial dispute with China to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea after Beijing seized Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a resource-rich fishing ground in the West Philippine Sea, South China Sea waters within Manila’s 370-km exclusive economic zone.

Manila submitted evidence of Beijing’s incursions and aggressive acts in the West Philippine Sea in late March, and the UN tribunal ordered China to respond to the Philippine case by Dec. 15.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters approaching the coasts of its neighbors, and has become increasingly assertive in staking those claims.

Besides Vietnam and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also have competing claims to parts of the sea.

‘Dangerously close’

China is also claiming Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea, declaring an “air defense identification zone” in the area and sending jet fighters to fly close to Japanese surveillance planes in Tokyo’s airspace.

On Thursday, Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to complain about jet fighters flying “dangerously” close to two of its military planes over the East China Sea.

Tokyo said two Chinese SU-27 jets flew just 30 meters away from its aircraft in a spot where the two countries’ air defense zones overlap.

“It was an action that was extremely regrettable, and which cannot be tolerated,” top government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said, referring to Wednesday’s incident.

It was the second time in less than three weeks that Tokyo has accused Beijing of playing chicken in the skies near the hotly contested Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing also claims and calls Diaoyus.

“It comes after a similar event which occurred last month,” Suga said. “The government will continue urging China to prevent an accident and restrain itself.”
“Japan will seek cooperation from countries concerned,” Suga said.

Ambassador summoned

Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Akitaka Saiki called Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua to the ministry to urge Beijing to create a maritime communication system with Tokyo.

The incident occurred as Japan and Australia held the fifth round of so-called 2+2 talks between their defense and foreign affairs chiefs in Tokyo.

The meeting was part of a trend in which military and political alliances are being forged and strengthened around the Asia-Pacific region, as countries in the area look with alarm at China’s growing willingness to forcefully push its claims in territorial disputes.

Beijing’s decision to move the oil rig to the East Sea has led to confrontations between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels near the Paracel Islands, resulting in the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat by a Chinese vessel on May 26 and in the condemnation by other countries, including the United States, of China’s “provocative acts.”

‘Withdraw oil rig’

In the United Nations, Vietnam demanded that China withdraw the oil rig, “escort vessels from Vietnam’s maritime zones and stop all activities that are interfering with maritime safety and security, and affecting regional peace and security.”

The Vietnamese government called on China to “promptly commence government-level negotiations” on sovereignty over the contested waters.

In its document sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, China alleged that Vietnam rammed Chinese vessels more than 1,400 times near oil drilling operations in the South China Sea.

Vietnam released videos of the confrontations showing Chinese vessels using water cannon to prevent the Vietnamese ships from getting near the oil rig.

The video of the May 26 incident showed a Chinese vessel ramming the Vietnamese fishing boat.
Tensions over the oil rig sparked violent anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam last month. Beijing says four Chinese citizens died, while Vietnam says there were three Chinese fatalities.

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/106339/vietnam-japan-stand-up-to-china#ixzz34jMPUAXO
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