Observed on the last 7 days… “Concerns about navigational safety risks and overfishing and destruction of the marine environment”
The dispute over the Senkaku Islands with Japan
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It was belatedly revealed that more than 220 Chinese ships were at anchor near the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, an area of territorial dispute.
According to local media such as foreign media and daily Filipino stars on the 21st, the Philippine Maritime Guard reported to related agencies on the 7th that it had witnessed about 220 ships that seem to have been aboard the Chinese maritime militia in the EEZ in the South China Sea on the 7th.
In this regard, the’West Philippine Sea (Philippines name for the South China Sea) Task Force’ (NTF-WPS), an alliance of government ministries, issued a statement and said, “Even in clear weather, Chinese ships swarming near the reef did not show any fishing activity. They did not show any fishing activities. It was brightly lit at night,” he explained.
The foreign media reported that NTF-WPS expressed’concern’ about overfishing and destruction of the marine environment, as well as the risk of navigational safety.
Foreign Minister Theodoro Roxin replied with the intention that he was waiting for the military’s judgment to the media question whether he would make a diplomatic protest over a large-scale appearance of a ship that appears to be part of the Chinese Maritime Militia within the EEZ.
At the 11th South China Sea International Conference held in Hanoi, Vietnam in November 2019, Greg Pauling, director of the’Asian Ocean Transparency Initiative’ under the US Institute for International Strategic Studies, said, “The most important change in the situation in the South China Sea over the past year is that China “The number of deployed Coast Guard and Marine Militia ships has increased,” he said.
“These ships continue to patrol all areas of the club and are more aggressive in harassing the usual activities of neighboring countries, such as oil and gas production, fishing, and supply of supplies to outposts.”
China claims sovereignty over 90% of the South China Sea and draws 9 lines (gudan line) along the beach in a U-shape, builds an artificial island, and establishes a military base, causing conflict with neighboring countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines as well as Malaysia and Brunei. .
In 2012, China forcibly occupied Scarborough Reef in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), followed by building an artificial island and deploying missiles on the Mischiev Reef as a military base.
China is also having a territorial dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name Diaoyudao). For this reason, the United States and Japan have reached an agreement to conduct joint exercises involving the U.S. military and the Self-Defense Forces in preparation for emergencies on the Senkaku Islands. U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo agreed in this manner at the US-Japan defense ministers’ meeting held in Tokyo on the 16th.
The United States Marine Corps and the Army, Navy, and Air Forces, as well as Japan’s Maritime, Land, and Air Self-Defense Forces participate. In response to the Senkaku Islands invasion, they practice recapture, and when an imaginary enemy lands on the Senkaku Islands, it is a training to confirm the division of roles between the United States and Japan.
The Senkaku Islands, effectively dominated by Japan, are a territorial dispute between China and Japan. Chinese government ships frequently appear in the waters around the Senkaku Islands, and Japan frequently protests against the Chinese side through diplomatic channels. The Yomiuri Shimbun explained the meaning of the US-Japan Senkaku defense coalition training, saying, “(Senkaku Islands, Japan) has the purpose of controlling China’s repeated territorial invasions.”
/ Reporter Kihyuk Kim [email protected]
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