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Meredith Chen

The Chinese coastguard patrolled around a contested South China Sea shoal on Thursday, a day after the country’s military mounted a joint sea and air patrol in the area.
“The China Coast Guard conducted law enforcement patrols in the territorial waters of China’s Huangyan Island and the surrounding area,” the China Coast Guard said, referring to Scarborough Shoal, known as Panatag Shoal in the Philippines
“This was a law-enforcement activity carried out by the Chinese maritime police in accordance with the law.”
The patrol comes less than a week after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr signed the Maritime Zones Act and Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, embedding Manila’s claims to the South China Sea in domestic law.
The US expressed its support for the Philippine legislation, saying other countries had passed similar laws.
Two days later, China published a set of geographic coordinates for 16 base points around Scarborough Shoal, the first time it has done so for territory also claimed by the Philippines.
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro responded by accusing Beijing of “stepping up pressure on the Philippines”.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources also announced standard names for 64 islands and reefs in the South China Sea, providing each with its name in Chinese characters and pinyin and precise coordinates.
On Wednesday, China’s top envoy to Manila warned the Philippines to cease any “unilateral actions” to complicate tensions in the waters, and lodged “stern representations” over the signing of maritime laws to define territory, sea lanes and air routes.
Ambassador Huang Xilian said China’s delimitation of Scarborough Shoal was a “necessary response” to the Philippines’ enactment of two laws meant to reaffirm its maritime claims and a “routine measure” to strengthen maritime management.
“We urge the Philippines to immediately cease any unilateral action that may escalate disputes and complicate the situation, in order to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea,” Huang said.


Earlier China’s foreign ministry summoned the Philippine ambassador to China to protest.
The National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, also expressed firm opposition to and strong condemnation of the Philippines’ introduction of the Philippine maritime act.
“South China Sea disputes have become increasingly complex,” said Wu Shicun, founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
The issue has extended beyond the political and diplomatic realms and spilled over into security and legal arenas, he said in a video released by China’s Diplomacy in the New Era, a government platform, on Tuesday.
The involvement of external forces, particularly the United States and Japan, had magnified the issue, intensifying its negative impacts, he said.
“[The involvement of external forces] has increasingly posed challenges to China in areas of maritime rights protection, legal frameworks, rule-making, and even discourse dominance,” Wu said.
He said the United States had stepped in and abandoned its neutral stance, and China “should not underestimate the negative impact of Japan’s involvement”.
“Its challenge to China’s claims in the region could potentially surpass that of the US,” he said.
Although the South China Sea disputes would persist, they were not expected to cause major upheaval, Wu said.
He said the US did not want chaos in the waters but it did desire a certain level of disorder that could allow the US to assert influence by offering protection, particularly to the Philippines.
China and the Philippines have been at odds over the past year or so over various maritime features, including Second Thomas and Sabina shoals, resulting in clashes between coastguards and fishing boats.




China claims most of the South China Sea – an area marked out by its U-shaped nine-dash line. But in 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a UN body, ruled that Beijing had no legal claim to “historical rights” within the area. Beijing rejected the ruling as “illegal”.
Wu said the negative impact of the arbitration had persisted and “created spillover effects”.
“The arbitration has been a troublemaker in the South China Sea disputes. It has not brought peace to the region. Without the ruling, the situation might be much more relaxed than it is now,” he said.
Manila has threatened to file a second case, alleging destruction of coral reefs by Chinese vessels within its exclusive economic zone – a prospect Beijing has dismissed as “political drama”.
Wu said the Philippines had sent “tentative signals” on a second case, waiting to see the reaction of China and other members of the international community.
If such a case infringed upon China’s rights in the South China Sea, China’s “countermeasures will be tough and will certainly make the Philippines pay a heavy price … and make them regret their actions,” he said.
“Our island and reef construction, the deployment of subsequent facilities, the introduction of our Coast Guard Law … all strengthen our ability to uphold our legitimate rights and claims,” he said.


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South China Sea

China’s coastguard circles Scarborough Shoal after Philippines stakes its legislative claim

The China Coast Guard says its patrol around Scarborough Shoal was for law enforcement. Photo:  EPA-EFE

China’s baselines near Scarborough Shoal aim to ‘exert more pressure’ on Philippines: analysts

A China Coastguard vessel patrols in waters adjacent to the Scarborough Shoal. Photo: Xinhua

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr delivers a speech after signing two new maritime laws on November 8. Photo: EPA-EFE

A China coastguard vessel patrols near the disputed Scarborough Shoal. Photo: Reuters

South China Sea: Beijing updates Sansha city map amid flaring tensions over disputed islands

Chinese marines on patrol on Woody Island in the Paracels, which falls under the jurisdiction of the city of Sansha. Photo: Reuters


Chinese military conducts sea and air patrol around shoal amid tension with Philippines

The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army says Scarborough Shoal patrol was  “carried out in accordance with the law”. Photo: Xinhua

South China Sea: new Philippine laws that sparked Beijing’s fury to ‘stress’ foreign ships

A Chinese coastguard vessel pictured beside Chinese militia ships near Thitu Island in the South China Sea on Wednesday last week. Photo: AP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (centre) during the signing of the new maritime laws in Manila on Friday. Photo: Malacanang Presidential Communications Office via AP

China’s coastguard circles Scarborough Shoal after Philippines stakes its legislative claim

The Chinese authority says it conducted a patrol as a law enforcement activity