China continues to fortify claims in the South China Sea
China continues to fortify claims in the South China Sea
Jim Gomez, Associated Press, Manila
China has been fortifying its claims in potentially oil-rich areas of the South China Sea in recent years while placating other claimant countries with hopeful talk of a peaceful resolution, a confidential Philippine military report says.
China's activities make the conflicting claims involving five other nations the "greatest potential flashpoint for conflict in Southeast Asia," said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
In the last four years, China has installed communications equipment on some of the disputed islands it occupies, organized a military unit for better surveillance and staged large-scale military exercises in the contested regions, said the 20-page report, prepared in March.
While China is cautious in buttressing its presence to avoid setting off a major confrontation that could undermine its economic interests, it appears ready to assert its claims by every means, the report said.
"China's actions are widely viewed as a double-edge diplomatic strategy aimed at furthering its strategic goals in the region," it said.
"Beijing uses negotiating tactics to keep neighboring governments hopeful of a peaceful compromise while the Chinese military continues to build up its permanent 'fortresses' in the Spratly Islands."
Efforts to contact the Chinese Embassy in Manila for comment were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
The conflicting claims are focused on the Spratlys, a sprawling, barren archipelago believed to be atop vast undersea oil and gas deposits. Parts of the Spratlys are claimed by China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The area straddles one of the world's busiest shipping routes and has many rich fishing grounds.
Manila and Beijing also are contesting the Scarborough Shoal in a rich fishing ground off the Philippines' western coast. China and Vietnam dispute ownership of the Paracel islands further west.
After fortifying its structures in 1998 in Mischief Reef, a Spratlys area claimed by the Philippines, China reportedly installed communication transmission stations on three occupied reefs, including one claimed by Manila.
The stations could transmit to Chinese navy patrol ships and contact a military ground command at China's South Sea Fleet headquarters in Zhangjiang, the report said.
In May 2000, China reportedly established a "South Sea Marine Surveillance Force" to safeguard its claims and identify marine and aquatic resources, according to the report. It formerly was only a division of the China Marine Surveillance Force, organized in 1998 to patrol inland seas and territorial waters, it said.
"Despite denials from Chinese officials, the creation of a surveillance force is apparently an offshoot of constant military activities of the other claimants in the Spratlys," the report said.
Last year, China reportedly built 20 to 24 100-meter navy vessels that could be used for patrols while disguised as customs boats, the report claimed.
China held large-scale military exercises last year from its southern Hainan island to the Paracels, including amphibious warfare drills, it said.
Chinese vessels have also been recently frequenting Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing claims as an ancient possession but the Philippines says lies in its 320-kilometer exclusive economic zone, the report said.
In May 2001, two Chinese navy vessels and a survey and research ship were sighted there with two helicopters hovering overhead.
The dispute has sparked small clashes. Philippine patrol boats accidentally sank two Chinese fishing vessels they were chasing away from the shoal in 1999. The following year, a Philippine navy ship fired warning shots near two Chinese fishing boats.
Two months later, a Chinese fishing boat's skipper died when his crew exchanged gunfire with a Philippine coast guard ship.
The claimants have been working on a code of conduct that would govern movements in the disputed region. Although they have agreed on the idea, differences remain over areas it would cover.
China's aggressiveness in the South China Sea has clouded its image and "stirred apprehensions in Southeast Asia" as it asserts a more dominant economic and political role in Asia, the report said.
"Much of the worry reflects an underlying, if often unspoken, fear that (this) assertiveness foreshadows a China that will become more menacing as (its) power grows."