New China Coast Guard rules yesterday took effect, allowing it to detain foreigners for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea, where neighbors and the G7 have accused Beijing of intimidation and coercion.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, brushing aside competing claims from nations, including Taiwan and the Philippines, and an international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.
China deploys coast guard vessels and other boats to patrol the waters and has turned several reefs into militarized artificial islands. Chinese and Philippine vessels have had a series of confrontations in disputed areas.
Photo: Reuters
From yesterday, the China Coast Guard can detain foreigners “suspected of violating management of border entry and exit,” according to the new regulations published online.
Detention is allowed for up to 60 days in “complicated cases,” they say, adding that “foreign ships that have illegally entered China’s territorial waters and the adjacent waters may be detained.”
Manila has accused the Chinese coast guard of “barbaric and inhumane behavior” against Philippine vessels, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos last month called the new rules a “very worrisome” escalation.
On Friday, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner told reporters that authorities in Manila were “discussing a number of steps to be undertaken in order for us to protect our fishermen.”
Philippine fishers were told “not to be afraid, but just to go ahead with their normal activities to fish there in our exclusive economic zone,” Brawner said.
The G7 criticized what it called “dangerous” incursions by China in the waterway.
“We oppose China’s militarization, and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea,” read a G7 statement at the end of a summit on Friday.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it has asked the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to formally recognize the extent of its undersea shelf in the South China Sea, off western Palawan province, after more than a decade and a half of scientific research.
The undersea region where the Philippines seeks to formally establish its sovereign rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) covers the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), a chain of islands, islets, reefs and atolls that has been fiercely contested over the years by Taiwan, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
“Incidents in the waters tend to overshadow the importance of what lies beneath,” Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Marshall Louis Alferez said. “The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up to the maximum extent allowed by UNCLOS hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come.”
“Today, we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our extended continental shelf entitlement,” Alferez said.
Additional reporting by AP
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS