The Philippines has rejected an annual summer fishing ban imposed by China in the disputed South China Sea and encouraged its boats to keep fishing in the country’s territorial waters.
The fishing moratorium imposed by China since 1999 runs from May 1 to Aug. 16 and covers areas of the South China Sea — which the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea (WPS) — as well as other waters off China.
“This fishing ban does not apply to our fishermen,” the Philippine National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Photo: AFP
“Our fisher folk are encouraged to go out and fish in our waters in the WPS,” the task force said, as it voiced its opposition to China’s ban imposed over areas within the territory and jurisdiction of the Philippines.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Manila has for years been embroiled in a dispute over Beijing’s sweeping claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea, most of which is also claimed by Taiwan.
An international tribunal in 2016 invalidated China’s claims, but Beijing has rejected the ruling.
Tensions between the two countries recently escalated after Manila accused China of territorial incursions by hundreds of its vessels in the resource-rich waterway.
The Philippines has filed diplomatic protests against China over what it calls the “illegal” presence of the Chinese vessels, which it has said are crewed by militia.
Chinese diplomats have said that the boats are just sheltering from rough seas and have no militia aboard.
The task force said that it had spotted seven “Chinese Maritime Militia” at the Sabina shoal in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) on Tuesday last week, which dispersed after being challenged by the Philippine Coast Guard.
Five returned two days later, but left after the coast guard returned, it said.
The Sabina shoal is about 130 nautical miles (240km) from the western Philippine island of Palawan.
Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) — the largest island in the Spratlys — has been administered by Taiwan since 1956.
“The Philippines is not deterred from defending our national interest, patrimony and our dignity as a people with all that we have,” the task force said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS