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The ship altercation between China and Philippines in the
South China Sea, on April 13th, has entered the fourth day.
This is considered a sea confrontation between the two
countries over the years.
There are signs that both of them are trying to avoid
a military conflict.
But the two countries warned each other, in order to protect the
sovereignty over these islands, they will take further actions.
Since April 8th, the Philippine Navy took the 200 nautical mile
exclusive economic zone under international law as a base line,
Then they tried to seize Chinese fishermen who fished in the
waters off Huangyan Island.
But two Chinese ocean surveillance ships blocked them.
On April 12th, China sent a third ocean surveillance ship to the
waters of the Huangyan Island.
Wu Fan, political commentator: "From the beginning of the
Republic of China, the South China Sea from Taiwan to the
most south of James Shoal, (Nansha island-wide's southern-
most tip), has been designated as China's adjacent sea.
It is since the era of Chiang Kai-shek that this was announced.
The regime of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the power
of the mainland. They never pay attention to marine issues.
They also have no strength to pay attention either. They have
always been engaged in infighting."
Wu Fan pointed out that although Huangyan Island is near the
Philippines, the Republic of China declared in 1936 that the
island belongs to them. But the CCP has lost many such islands.
Now China and Philippines dispute not only the island, but
more importantly rights to the oil in the sea bed.
"International Herald Tribune" reported in 2009 that among the
three million square kilometers of Chinese sovereign waters,
those actually controlled by China are less than half. China's
marine resources were plundered by neighboring countries.
However, China and Philippine sare trying to defuse the crisis.
Philippines sent a frigate, instead of the initial biggest warship.
China also reduced the ocean surveillance ships on-site from
three to two.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that though the two sides
still have a confrontation, diplomatic negotiations have made progress.
Both countries have agreed to withdraw their
diplomatic protests on this issue.
But "Global Times" has a different tone. "Global Times"
threatened: If Philippines and Vietnam want to fight a war at sea,
please fire the first shot. And China will resolutely fight
and give them a painful lesson that they won't expect.
Wu Fan said, the argument of "Global Times" reflects part of
Currently, if the three ships withdraw first, Chinese people
will strongly blame the CCP regime.
He said: "the CCP just crushes its people, not protecting its
own rights in territorial waters."
Wu Fan also said that in the international arena, foreigners
will look down on China.
They would think that such a large country could not protect
its own territorial waters against the Philippines.
In that case how can the CCP manage the country?
Wu Fan hopes the CCP will not retreat, and protect fishermen
and its territory.
Wu Fan: Long-term stalemate is a benefit for China. After
the collapse of the CCP, this place will still have a dispute.
The Government of China should protect the territory,
territorial sea and islands no matter what kind it is.
About the time of the confrontation between China and the
Philippines, the U.S. and Philippines began joint military exercises,
including in south of China's territorial sea, gaining
promise of U.S. government's support beforehand.
Patrick Cronin, senior executive of Asia-pacific Security Plan
of the U.S. Security Center told Voice of America that promise
means if Philippines conflicts with China due to the territory
dispute, the U.S. surely defend Philippines.
Wen Zhao (news commentator) pointed out given China's
domestic, political and economic situation, using war to solve
the territorial dispute is prohibited. The problem of the south
sea is international which implies a lesser possibility of war.
Wen Zhao: "Timing for using war to solve the south sea event
is over. Great powers in the world are all focus on the issue of this place,
thus it will cause severe political impact if some
country uses war to solve the problem.
The possibility of war to solve the problem has disappeared
because the cost of war is too high to bear".
However, Voice of America analyses that even if the war can
be avoided, it will intensify the polarization of Asia countries.
Some countries are getting close to China and others close to
the U.S. It will affect the security of the Asian-Pacific region.
