South China Sea News & Discussions, incl Spratly Islands News

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At least 4 Filipino fishermen remained missing off the west coast of N. Luzon in the SCS after it's fishing boat was hit by a unidentified Chinese vessel while 4 others were rescued ...



NDRRMC: 4 missing after boat bumped by 'Chinese vessel' | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

1st fatality in the incident has now been reported ...

4 missing as Chinese vessel hits fishing boat in Pangasinan | Inquirer News

1 dead, 4 missing after 'Chinese vessel' bumps fishermen's boat
 
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ManilaBoy said:
Latest SCS News Articles ...

CARAT 2012 Philippines segment got underway this week that might fuel more tensions in the disputed maritime areas with China while the Aquino government held a close door meeting on actions to be taken in the Scarborough Shoal dispute before it's implemented ...


US-Philippines drill fuels tension

Aquino on China issue: Keep gov
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It looks like the Philippines is totally helpless if China decides to grab all the island in the Spratlys unless they have some help from you know who? I think it behooves the Philippine to make drastic decisions as to how they are able to guard and protect their claimed territories? Either find the money and make defense their number one priority or one morning they will find that China had occupied all the reefs, atols and islands in the West Philippine Sea! It will be a sad day for the country and the citizens of the Philippines if this event happens...because they're too poor to acquire what they need militarily?
 
dazzerler1 said:
It looks like the Philippines is totally helpless if China decides to grab all the island in the Spratlys unless they have some help from you know who? I think it behooves the Philippine to make drastic decisions as to how they are able to guard and protect their claimed territories? Either find the money and make defense their number one priority or one morning they will find that China had occupied all the reefs, atols and islands in the West Philippine Sea! It will be a sad day for the country and the citizens of the Philippines if this event happens...because they're too poor to acquire what they need militarily?
Click to expand...


Well based on the attached article, the Philippines is on an spending spree for military hardware? Would it be enough or fast enough considering that they're behind the 8 ball for so long?

Asia Times Online :: Military spending spree in the Philippines
 
Brief History of the Maritime Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea

I thought that it is important to have the history of the current tensions in the South China Sea so as to have the correct context as to why these disputes arose. So, here's a brief outline that I put together with some brief research (Wikipedia links are used for convenience). Do feel free to contribute.

1947 - Nationalist China, under KMT, drew 11 dots to lay out its claims in the South China Sea. This eventually became the current 9-dashed line claim.

Asia Times Online :: Southeast Asia news and business from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam

1974 - Battle of Paracel Islands. Near the end of the Vietnam War, PRC troops seized the Paracel Islands from the South Vietnamese. Following the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnam disputed PRC's ownership of the Paracel Islands.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Paracel_Islands"]Battle of the Paracel Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

1988 - Johnson South Reef Skirmish between Vietnam and PRC. Vietnam lost.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_South_Reef_Skirmish"]Johnson South Reef Skirmish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

1993/1994 - Mischief Reef incident where the Philippines discovered PRC building structures on the reef. The reef is claimed by both PRC and the Philippines.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Reef"]Mischief Reef - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

1994 - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force. This provided the legal basis for the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei to claim features/islands/rocks in the South China Sea.

UNCLOS

2011 - Scarborough Shoal stand-off between PRC and the Philippines.
 
Chinese Woops ......

It appears China may have a bit of explaining to do, via Sydney Morning Herald:

Spratly Islands | Chinese navy

quote: "The frigate pinned itself to a reef last night at Half Moon Shoal, on the south-eastern edge of the Spratly Islands, and remains "thoroughly stuck", according to Western diplomatic sources shortly after midday local time, or 2pm AEST.

Salvage operations could be diplomatically challenging, given the vessel appears to have run aground within 200 kilometres of the Philippines coast, which is squarely within what Manila claims to be its Exclusive Economic Zone."

Safe to say the frigate's captain won't win "Sailor of the Year" for the PLAN.
 
This is the same news about the PLA Navy frigate that is grounded on Half Moon Shoal, but it is in Chinese:

º£¾üÒ»ËÒ»¤ÎÀ½¢ÔÚÄÏɳ°ëÔ½¸¸édz ÎÞÈËÔ±ÉËÍö_ÐÂÎÅÖÐÐÄ_ÖлªÍø

It includes a map showing the area, as well as a file-photo of the frigate "Dong Guan" (东莞号), pennant number 560. This frigate belongs to the South Sea Fleet based in Sanya, Hainan.

The frigate reportedly got grounded there on 11 July at around 1900hrs. There are no injuries/casualties and PRC is organising a rescue.

In Chinese newscasts on this incident, the frigate was reportedly conducting routine operations in the area, which involves chasing fishermen away.

If the PLA Navy is as strict on grounding as some of the western navies, the captain will be removed and never go to sea again.
 
SpartanSG said:
This is the same news about the PLA Navy frigate that is grounded on Half Moon Shoal, but it is in Chinese:

º£¾üÒ»ËÒ»¤ÎÀ½¢ÔÚÄÏɳ°ëÔ½¸¸édz ÎÞÈËÔ±ÉËÍö_ÐÂÎÅÖÐÐÄ_ÖлªÍø

It includes a map showing the area, as well as a file-photo of the frigate "Dong Guan" (东莞号), pennant number 560. This frigate belongs to the South Sea Fleet based in Sanya, Hainan.

The frigate reportedly got grounded there on 11 July at around 1900hrs. There are no injuries/casualties and PRC is organising a rescue.

In Chinese newscasts on this incident, the frigate was reportedly conducting routine operations in the area, which involves chasing fishermen away.

If the PLA Navy is as strict on grounding as some of the western navies, the captain will be removed and never go to sea again.
Click to expand...

It depends who is the OOW at the point in time although the skipper is ultimately accountable. As I understand, the OOW and the senior officer on the deck are likely to take the full brunt of any punishment if there is a violation of safety/ROTR.
 
This is in response to SpartanSG's post:

I'm amazed SpartanSG. Now you're saying that the Philippines can't surveil their EEZ. Why do say "EEZ that they claim". International law of the sea states that countries have about 200 miles that they own. Now you realized in another thread why they must do something, even raiding their foreign reserves, so they can at least have a minimal defensive deterrence. Right now they only have that over 40 year old ex-USCGC Hamilton, maybe at the end of the year they will add another. They need more assets, i.e., frigates, corvettes, additonal Hamilton class ships and on-shore radars so they can perform surveillance of their EEZ.
 
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