Ready
to tackle China sea threat: Navy chief
4
December, 2012
NEW
DELHI: Indian warships are prepared to set sail for the South China
Sea if the country's economic interests there are threatened in any
way, with China upping the ante and even empowering its police to
search and seize foreign ships in the contentious mineral-rich
region.
"Are
we preparing for it? Are we having exercises of that nature? The
short answer is 'Yes'. We, of course, will need government clearance.
Should a requirement come, I am sure we will have that clearance,"
said Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi on Monday, a day ahead of Navy Day.
Speaking
at a time when national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon is in
Beijing to engage with the new Chinese leadership, Admiral Joshi made
it clear that his force's mandate was "unambiguous" — to
be the "net security provider" wherever the country's
"sovereign interests" may lie in maritime domain.
India
may not be "a direct party or stakeholder" in the "complex"
dispute in South China Sea, where Beijing has become quite aggressive
in its territorial disputes with countries like the Philippines,
Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia, but it does have "two primary
concerns" there.
One,
there should be unhindered and "uninterrupted" freedom of
navigation for all countries in the South China Sea in accordance
with international laws. "Two, we have economic interests there.
ONGC Videsh has three oil exploration blocks (off the Vietnam
coast)... production in one has already begun. Should there be any
requirement for any kind of protection, we are prepared," said
Admiral Joshi, who recently returned from a visit to Vietnam.
India
and China have had diplomatic spats over ONGC's exploration off the
Vietnamese coast in the recent past, with Indian warships even being
challenged and needled by the Chinese Navy. What if Indian ships are
now stopped, boarded and searched by the Chinese? The Navy chief said
he did not expect such a situation to arise. But if it did, the
"rules of engagement" would remain the same as elsewhere.
"In essence, wherever your right of self-defence is impeded,
certain options are available."
India
is keeping a hawk eye on China's rapid military modernization. "The
modernization is impressive. It's a major concern... but we
continuously evaluate and factor it into our strategies," he
said, adding his force has its own plans underway to become a true
multi-dimensional force with reach and sustainability.
Vietnam Says Chinese
Vessels Cut Cables
3
December, 2012
BEIJING—Two
Chinese fishing vessels have cut cables of a Vietnamese vessel doing
seismic oil exploration work in the South China Sea, the state-run
Vietnam Oil and Gas Group said Monday amid mounting regional concern
about new Chinese regulations that appear to authorize its police to
board foreign ships around disputed islands in the area.
The
Vietnamese ship, the Binh Minh 02 Ship, was conducting a seismic
survey 43 miles southeast of Con Co Island off Vietnam's Quang Tri
province when the two Chinese vessels ran across its cables and cut
them on Friday, according to Pham Viet Dung, deputy head of the
exploration division of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, also known as
PetroVietnam.
It
was the latest in a string of incidents in the contested and
potentially resource-rich waters of the South China Sea and the East
China Sea that have heightened regional concerns about China's
escalating military power, prompting the U.S. government to shore up
defense ties with old allies and build closer military relations with
new partners, including Vietnam.
"PetroVietnam
strongly protests the violations of the Chinese fishing vessels and
has requested the [Vietnamese] authorities to demand the Chinese side
to educate their citizens to respect Vietnam's maritime sovereignty,"
Mr. Dung said in a statement posted on PetroVietnam's website.
The
statement said PetroVietnam has repaired the cables and resumed
seismic work on Saturday. In May last year, the Vietnamese government
also accused Chinese vessels of harassing fishermen and cutting the
cables of the Binh Minh 02 Ship while doing seismic oil exploration
work offshore Vietnam.
Chinese
officials denied any wrongdoing in that incident, and accused Vietnam
of "seriously infringing" on China's sovereignty and
maritime interests.
The
territorial disputes in the South China Sea were a major issue at a
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia
last month, where U.S. President Barack Obama backed an effort by
many of the group's members to negotiate a regional agreement on the
matter with China.
China
has repeatedly warned the U.S. not to interfere in the territorial
disputes, which Beijing says should be settled bilaterally between
China and each of the other claimants—Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Some
of China's neighbors were also angered last month by a map printed in
new Chinese passports which appeared to depict as part of Chinese
territory waters and islands also claimed by Vietnam and the
Philippines, as well as two inland areas also claimed by India.
The
foreign ministries of China and Vietnam didn't respond to requests
for comment on the latest incident Monday.
Earlier,
a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, declined to elaborate
on reports in state media last week that authorities on the southern
Chinese island of Hainan had authorized local police to board and
search foreign vessels in what China sees as its territorial waters
under new rules that come into effect on Jan. 1.
Mr.
Hong referred to his remarks at a similar briefing last week when he
said China's marine management complied with domestic and
international law, adding: "The Chinese side attaches great
importance to protecting freedom of navigation in the South China
Sea. There is currently no problem in this respect."
The
state-run Xinhua news agency said the new rules, approved by Hainan's
local legislature last Tuesday, authorized police to board foreign
vessels in circumstances that included stopping or anchoring in
China's territorial waters, entering Chinese ports without approval,
and illegally landing on islands administered by Hainan.
Singapore
expressed concern over the reported regulations Monday. A Ministry of
Foreign Affairs spokesman said, "Singapore is concerned about
this recent turn of events. We are closely monitoring developments.
We urge all parties to the territorial disputes in the South China
Sea to refrain from provocative behavior, and to fully implement"
the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea-- a
nonbinding deal reached in 2002 to prevent disputes over the sea from
the sea. "It is important for all parties to respect the
accepted principles of international law, including [the U.N.
Convention on the Law of the Sea], and refrain from taking actions
that could escalate tensions" in the South China Sea.
The
Philippines Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Saturday asking
China to "immediately clarify" the reported regulations and
suggesting that the new rules, as reported by Chinese state media,
represented a violation of international law.
"If
media reports are accurate, this planned action by China is illegal
and will validate the continuous and repeated pronouncements by the
Philippines that China's claim of indisputable sovereignty over
virtually the entire South China Sea is not only an excessive claim
but a threat to all countries," the statement said.
Analysts
say the rules appear to apply only to the 12 nautical miles of
territorial waters around every island China claims, but it is
unclear what they will mean in practice. They see them as the latest
in a series of recent measures designed to establish de facto control
of the territory that China claims in the South China Sea and East
China Sea.
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