Tag: territorial disputes

Less politics more marine diplomacy – a fix for South China Sea?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Territorial wrangling over who owns the South China Sea has strangled local marine life, say scientists, urging China and the Philippines to set aside political differences and work to save the fish, coral and plants that live border-free.

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Since 2013, China has built artificial islands that cover more than 3,000 acres of the Spratlys, according to U.S.-based policy organisation Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

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A study last December by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative also blamed China’s dredging and clam harvesting for destroying almost 20,000 acres of reefs in the South China Sea.

Less politics more marine diplomacy – a fix for South China Sea?

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) is part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Gregory Poling is director of the AMTI. The same Poling that told the U.S. government-funded Voice of America that “Vietnam’s use of cutter suction dredgers is much more environmentally destructive than its previous dredging methods.”

According to the CIA’s World Factbook, Vietnam occupies around 50 outposts, The Philippines occupies nine, Malaysia occupies five, and China occupies seven in the disputed Spratly Islands.

Previously:

China unveils evidences showing Philippine grounded warship at Ren’ai Jiao destroys coral reefs, endangers marine organism

Experts warn of Philippines scheming for ‘new arbitration’ on South China Sea + More

Vietnamese Poachers using Cyanide and Dynamite Fishing in the Philippines’ EEZ

Philippine Coast Guard clarifies ‘assertive transparency’ tact

Chinese Missile Boat Undertakes ‘Alarming’ Action

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Chinese Missile Boat Undertakes ‘Alarming’ Action (archived)

A Chinese navy missile craft shadowed a Philippine civilian ship on Friday in an unprecedented encounter that one analyst described as “alarming.”

The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel the BRP Datu Romapenet was en route to a South China Sea feature known as Half Moon Shoal to deliver supplies to fishermen.

Half Moon Shoal is situated at the eastern edge of the Spratly Islands and about 60 miles from the Philippine province of Palawan, well within the Southeast Asian country’s recognized exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to the Philippines’ ABS-CBN News, which was onboard, the ship picked up a tail in the form of a Houbei-class (Type 22) guided-missile craft, easily identifiable by its wide camouflaged catamaran hull.

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Chester Cabalza, founder of Manila-based think tank the International Development and Security Cooperation, told the news agency it was the first time a Type 22 had been spotted in the EEZ.

“This incident is alarming because a missile ship shadowed our BFAR ship,” Cabalza said, adding that it was a show of power intended to intimidate the Philippines.

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President Maduro Expresses Venezuela’s Solidarity With Palestine and Lebanon Against Zionist Aggression and Nasrallah’s Assassination

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressed the solidarity of the Venezuelan government and people with the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, victims of military attacks carried out by Israeli occupation forces with the support of the US army. Before thousands of people in the city of La Guaira, President Maduro condemned the Zionist entity for killing more than a thousand people in its attacks on civilian areas of Lebanon this week, including around 500 children, a massacre added to the genocide being perpetrated for almost a year in the Gaza Strip, with nearly 42,000 people killed, around 10,000 missing, and some 100,000 wounded.

President Maduro Expresses Venezuela’s Solidarity With Palestine and Lebanon Against Zionist Aggression and Nasrallah’s Assassination

Alleged Chinese Nuclear Submarine Sinking: Separating Facts From Bullshit

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

Western defence media has recently been buzzing with the story of a Chinese SSN allegedly sinking in the Yangtze River near Wuhan. But is it actually true? We take a look at the likelihood of this.

Alleged Chinese Nuclear Submarine Sinking: Separating Facts From Bullshit

Related:

China denies U.S. claim that its newest nuclear submarine sank at pier

A growing problem of ‘deepfake geography’: How AI falsifies satellite images (Archived)

An open and free Indo-Pacific, or stability at home?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source

The Voice of America, in an article about why the Quad met in Washington this week, claims that the aims of the Quad are to create an open and free Indo-Pacific. Biden, in a prepared remark, suggested his Administration believes “Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimise the turbulence in China’s diplomatic relationships, and he’s also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space”.

An open and free Indo-Pacific, or stability at home?

PH: Replacement ship for Sabina Shoal now on patrol — Security Council

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

MANILA, Philippines — The spokesperson of the country’s security council said a replacement vessel is now actively patrolling Sabina (Escoda) Shoal, the latest flashpoint of Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

Replacement ship for Sabina Shoal now on patrol — Security Council

Related:

Collin Koh:

Collin Koh is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies which is a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, based in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has research interests on naval affairs in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on Southeast Asia.