Scuffle in the South China Sea #66

China claims nothing has changed with respect to the Scarborough Shoal. 

China also wants outside interference with the South China Sea to stop.

China and Russia first prepared for and then started the exercises in the South China Sea.

What Chinese ships are involved?

The Chinese amphibious warfare can be viewed through the past.

China feel confident it can improve its relations with Philippines. 

China came under pressure at the recent summit.

China is making decisions that get it cornered over the South China Sea.

The recent developments in the South China Sea.

The US Navy's Chief of Naval Operations has stated the US must continue to engage China.

Indonesia has problems with Chinese weapons.

Japan will start patrolling jointly with the USA.

Obama discussed the South China Sea on the way back from a summit and warned the arbitration ruling was binding.

Philippines' President is rejecting joint patrols between the US and Philippines navies.

Philippines has requested a clarification from China as to what they are doing with the Scarborough Shoal.

Philippines' President...oy.

Scuffle in the South China Sea #19

China has landed aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratley Islands.  Vietnam protested the act.  China said 'stuff it.'

Vietnam now has a (probably Belarusian) UAV to patrol the South China Sea.

China puts forward its views on the South China Sea in more detail.

Filipino youth have occupied one of the disputed islands.

Some Australians are worried about their government's stance about the South China Sea.

Scuffle in the South China Sea #8

China Defense Blog has pictures from a construction site on the dredged islands in the South China Sea.

China states it wants to resolve the disputes peacefully.

The Economist discusses China's overtures to Vietnam.  Vietnam and China have had the most aggressive clashes over the South China Sea.

The UN Court of Permanent Arbitration sided with the Philippines over whether or not the court had jurisdiction over territorial dispute.  Here is some highlights and discussion of that decision.

The US Navy sent a document writing up the territorial disputes between China and the United States in the South China Sea to Congress.

The US is becoming deeply concerned about a conflict in the South China Sea and stepped up the alertness of the US Navy in the area.

Scuffle in the South China Sea #5

China will hold snap drills in response to the American passage.

The USS Lassen's sail-by was an 'innocent passage.'

The US is planning at least two such passages per quarter.

The Philippines and Vietnam have been urged to start doing the same sorts of sail-bys as the US has been.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration decision is seen as a turning point for the South China Sea disputes.

Scuffle in the South China Sea #2

The US Navy is planning to sail closer than 12 miles from the artificial islands China made in the South China Sea again.

Chinese warships shadowed the USS Lassen the first sail-by.

U.S. chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Wu Shengli will hold a teleconference over the incident.

China is reportedly REALLY angry over the sailing and future sailings of the US Navy by its islands.

The Chinese have stated they will respond with all necessary means the next time the US does the sail-by.

China reportedly hacked the website of Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and started spreading malware from the webpage. The court is where the Phillipines filed its dispute with the Chinese over the South China Sea territorial claims.

In a bit of delicious irony, Merkel suggested China settle the South China Sea dispute in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

China Tells America to Butt Out of South China Sea Disputes

China told the United States on Tuesday to stay out of disputes over the South China Sea and leave countries in the region to resolve problems themselves, after Washington said it wanted a freeze on stoking tension.

Michael Fuchs, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Strategy and Multilateral Affairs, said no country was solely responsible for escalating tension in the region. But he reiterated the U.S. view that "provocative and unilateral" behaviour by China had raised questions about its willingness to abide by international law.

China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain oil and gas deposits and has rich fishery resources. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea, where about $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes every year.

China's Foreign Ministry repeated that it had irrefutable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, where most of the competing claims overlap, and that China continued to demand the immediate withdrawal of personnel and equipment of countries which were "illegally occupying" China's islands.

"What is regretful is that certain countries have in recent years have strengthened their illegal presence through construction and increased arms build up," the ministry said in a statement.

China would resolutely protect its sovereignty and maritime rights and had always upheld resolving the issue based on direct talks with the countries involved "on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law", it added.

China "hopes that countries outside the region strictly maintain their neutrality, clearly distinguish right from wrong and earnestly respect the joint efforts of countries in the region to maintain regional peace and stability", it added, in reference to the United States.

link.

Nickel "Mining" Planet Found in the Phillipines

Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Baños have discovered a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle — it eats nickel for a living — accumulating up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants. The study was published in the open access journal PhytoKeys.

The new species is called Rinorea niccolifera, reflecting its ability to absorb nickel in very high amounts. Nickel hyperaccumulation is such a rare phenomenon with only about 0.5–1% of plant species native to nickel-rich soils having been recorded to exhibit the ability. Throughout the world, only about 450 species are known with this unusual trait, which is still a small proportion of the estimated 300,000 species of vascular plants.

The new species, according to Dr Marilyn Quimado, one of the lead scientists of the research team, was discovered on the western part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, an area known for soils rich in heavy metals.

link.

China Pissed at Phillipines Over Attempting to use International Law to Settle South China Sea Disputes

China summoned the Philippines ambassador on Monday to lodge a strong complaint over Manila's seeking of international arbitration in a festering territorial dispute over the South China Sea.

The Philippines filed the case against China on Sunday at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, subjecting Beijing to international legal scrutiny over the waters for the first time.

The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said on Sunday that the right of any state to use dispute resolution mechanisms under the Convention on the Law of the Sea should be respected.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department accused China's coastguard of "harassment" of Philippine vessels and called its attempt on Saturday to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, "a provocative and destabilizing action."

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told the Philippines' ambassador that Beijing was "extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed" to the case Manila had brought to The Hague, repeating that China did not accept it and would not participate.

"The Philippines forcing of international arbitration is not conducive towards resolving the Sino-Philippine dispute over the South China Sea," the Foreign Ministry cited Liu as saying.

link.

Phillipines Purchasing 12 South Korean FA-50s

The Philippines on Friday signed contracts worth $527 million to buy 12 fighter jets from South Korea and four combat utility helicopters from Canada to boost the capability of its air force, one of the weakest in Southeast Asia.

Armed forces chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista signed a contract with Korean Aerospace Industries for 12 FA-50 fighters worth 18.9 billion pesos ($420.4 million) and another with Canadian Commercial Corp. for four Bell 412 combat utility helicopters worth 4.8 billion pesos ($106.8 million). Deliveries will start next year.

The fighter jets contract is the biggest deal so far signed under the military's long-delayed modernization program.

link.

Phillipines Files Suit Against China Over South China Sea

The Philippines will file a case against China over the disputed South China Sea at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague next week, subjecting Beijing to international legal scrutiny over the increasingly tense waters for the first time.

Manila is seeking a ruling to confirm its right to exploit the waters in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as allowed under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), its team of U.S. and British lawyers said.

A ruling against China by the five-member panel of the Permanent Court of Arbitration could prompt other claimants to challenge Beijing, experts said. But while legally binding, any ruling would effectively be unenforceable as there is no body under UNCLOS to police such decisions, legal experts said.

China, which has refused to participate in the case, claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

link.