The Philippines defuses Spratly tension

The Philippines defuses Spratly tension

By Cecilia Quiambao

MANILA (JP): The arrival of armed Chinese vessels in the
disputed Spratly Islands in the end of April ignited seven days
of tension in the South China Sea, provoking a round of saber
rattling and a flurry of diplomatic activity between Beijing and
Manila.

On May 2, three of the armed vessels departed the vicinity of
Philippine-held Panata Island, known by its international name as
Loaita Island, nine days after the first of the vessels was
spotted in the area by Philippine air force reconnaissance
aircraft.

"We welcome the (pullout)," a relieved Foreign Secretary
Domingo Siazon said. "I have always said that in accordance with
our (bilateral) code of conduct, there should be no surprises."

The Chinese side insists that they were a group of "research"
vessels.

The matrix of the 59 islands, surrounded by cays, reefs and
shoals, spreads over 161,000 square kilometers (62,000 square
miles) of water near major shipping lanes. They are garrisoned by
navies of five rival Asian claimant countries, with a sixth
country laying claim to part of its surrounding waters.

The occupied islands form a complex pattern, making it
difficult to delineate exactly whose territory are the
surrounding waters. Loaita (Panata), for example, is flanked by
islands held by China and Vietnam.

Major powers like the United States and neutral parties in
Asia have urged claimants Brunei, China, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam to refrain from further troop
deployments in the area to avoid complications in a situation
which is already considered one of the region's powder kegs.

The latest standoff between China and the Philippines,
militarily the strongest and weakest of claimant countries
respectively, had drawn disturbing comparisons with an incident
in 1995, when Philippine forces discovered that China had built
manned structures on Mischief Reef, a Philippine-claimed portion
of the Spratlys.

To this day, the structures, which Manila claims as heavily
guarded, but Beijing insists as merely fishermen shelters,
have remained despite diplomatic and other pressures applied by
the Philippines -- including blowing up boundary markers put up
in nearby areas by the Chinese side and buzzing Mischief Reef
with its jet fighters.

However, the two sides agreed the same year to follow a "code
of conduct" in the Spratlys, and to hold frequent bilateral
consultations. A senior Chinese official is scheduled to arrive
in Manila later this month for the latest round of talks.

The Philippines again sent jet fighters on missions over the
Spratlys in the latest incident, while 200 Philippine marines
reinforced garrisons on at least three of the eight
islands they occupy. It was not immediately clear if the marines
would also be withdrawn if the Chinese side relented.

Philippine legislators denounced China's move, particularly
after the Philippines' gesture of providing temporary asylum for
top North Korean official Hwang Jang-yop -- who had defected in
Beijing in February -- to bail China out of a diplomatic crisis.

The Philippines' main concern over the latest round of Chinese
activity in the area is the annexation of more unoccupied cays,
reefs and shoals through the building of structures similar to
those erected on Mischief Reef. The Chinese method, according to
the Philippine navy, is to bore holes through the reef and pour
concrete in for foundations for above-water structures.

A hut-like structure was monitored by the Philippine side on
a reef close to Loaita (Panata) during the latest standoff, but
it has since disappeared along with three of the four vessels,
the Philippine military said.

"I am concerned it could become a bigger structure," Defense
Secretary de Villa said recently.

John Avila, a political economist with the Manila-based think
tank, Center for Research and Communication, said he viewed the
latest Chinese move in the Spratlys in the context of "the huge
energy needs of China".

Beijing has a similar quarrel with Hanoi over an area of the
continental shelf off Vietnam where the Chinese have decided to
press ahead with oil exploration, he said.

Experts say the nearby Spratlys could also be sitting on vast
oil and gas reserves.

Philippine officials have no immediate explanation to China's
quick about-face in the latest incident, which was in stark
contrast to their unyielding posture in the Mischief Reef
issue.

The Chinese foreign ministry told Philippine Ambassador to
Beijing Romualdo Ong that the vessels left because they had
completed their "research survey", Foreign Secretary Siazon said.

"The whole Southeast Asian region has had difficulty reading
China's intentions because military commanders from
relevant...southern Chinese provinces appear to exercise some
degree of autonomy and take initiatives independent of whatever
policy there might be in Beijing," University of the Philippines
political scientist Alex Magno said.

This aspect of the Chinese equation "complicates the situation
for all of us," he said.

Under Chinese legislation passed in 1988, the entire Spratly
area and nearby Paracel Islands, also claimed by Vietnam, were
incorporated into the southern province of Hainan. On several
occasions, the Philippine navy has caught Hainan fishermen
poaching in Philippine waters in the South China Sea. Four of the
fishermen were sentenced to long prison terms, but were later
pardoned and deported in 1995.

Magno said part of Manila's success this time came from
drawing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into
the controversy. ASEAN countries include Spratly claimants
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as
Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.