SUMMARY: The South China Sea is home to more than a tenth of all the fish caught in the world, but fish stocks there are now on the verge of collapsing. Overfishing and the destruction of coral reefs have been exacerbated by maritime disputes and development projects. Greg Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss.
SUMMARY: China is rejecting a ruling by an international tribunal that its claim to a huge expanse of the South China Sea is invalid. The dispute was a victory for the Philippines and other nations that also hold claims to the waters around the Spratly Islands, a major fishing, trade and energy production corridor. Judy Woodruff talks to Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): A judgment was handed down today by an international tribunal that could have far-reaching effects in Asia. ('Related' above) It began as a dispute between China and the Philippines over a huge expanse of the South China Sea, and China's assertion of control there in waters claimed by many countries.
The area is a major fishing, trade and energy production corridor. And, today, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled against China.
For more on this dispute, on the case, and its implications, I'm joined by Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Bonnie Glaser, welcome to the “NewsHour.”
Remind us, first of all, what was the dispute that this international tribunal was asked to resolve?
BONNIE GLASER, Center for Strategic and International Studies: Well, the Philippines brought this case against China in January 2013, and there are 15 requests that it made.
They're not about sovereignty over territory, because this tribunal is not empowered to rule on sovereignty issues regarding territory, but the Philippines was asking other things. It was asking, for example, that China's nine-dash-line claim be ruled invalid and that China be told that it doesn't have any historic rights that can be applied to waters that give it any special rights to have fishing or energy exploitation in waters that are in exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
The Philippines also asked that the tribunal rule on the status of eight of the features. And the tribunal ruled on most of those and importantly found none of the features are full islands. So, none of them get a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. They just get a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea if they're a rock, and some of them are underwater, and they get no maritime entitlement whatsoever.
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let me just stop you there. What was China arguing was the basis for its territorial claim, then?
BONNIE GLASER: Well, China has argued, as have five other claimants, that they own many of the islands. Some of them, like China and Taiwan, claim all of the islands in the South China Sea.
This particular set of islands is in the Spratlys. It's the southern part of the South China Sea. And the Chinese rejected this ruling from the outset. They claimed that the tribunal didn't have jurisdiction on any of these issues. So, the Chinese refused to participate in the tribunal ruling. And they have claimed that it is not binding on China.
But, according to the Convention on the Law of the Sea — and China is a state party — it is binding on both parties, the Philippines and China.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, what does it mean, then? China, as you say, is rejecting the ruling. They're saying it's an invalid — was invalid for the court to even consider this. What does it mean, then? Is it enforceable in any way, this decision?
BONNIE GLASER: There is no enforcement mechanism, Judy, under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. And so it's really left up to the international community to encourage China to be a law-abiding citizen and for China to see that it's in its interest to not be an outlaw.
China wants to, I believe, rise peacefully. It doesn't want to have confrontation with its neighbors. So I think this is going to create some thinking, maybe rethinking in China about its approach to its neighbors, I hope. But in the short run, we're likely to see increased tensions, and I think that the Chinese might take some steps to reassert their claims, because Xi Jinping will face pressure domestically.
He has lost face on this issue, because this award, as they call it, the decision, was almost completely in favor of the Philippines. It was very one-sided.
SUMMARY: What do recent U.S. naval forays in the South China Sea -- including Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit aboard an aircraft carrier -- mean for tensions with China over the disputed waters? Hari Sreenivasan speaks to Bonnie Glaser of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): Joining me now to help us understand the United States’ recent activity in the South China Sea and what it means is Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
So, first, how big a deal is this, if Ash Carter gets on a very nice ship and decides to take a cruise in territorially disputed waters?
BONNIE GLASER, Center for Strategic and International Studies: Well, Secretary Carter has done this previously, when he attended the Shangri-La dialogue in June of this year.
He was on a P-8 surveillance aircraft flying over the Malacca Straits. So it’s not unusual for the United States secretary of defense to be on a military platform out in the South China Sea demonstrating to the region that the United States has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Is it a provocative act to be in this specific place at this time?
BONNIE GLASER: Undoubtedly, the Chinese see it as a provocative act, but I think that the other nations in the regions do not.
I think if you look at Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, the other claimants, they are very happy to see the United States’ flag shown in the region. They supported the United States exercising freedom of navigation around what is called Subi Reef, which is the elevation, the low-tide elevation that the USS Lassen, a destroyer, conducted a freedom of navigation operation in just a few days ago.
So, this is something that the region supports generally.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The freedom of navigation idea, is it a right that sort of use it or lose it? If you don’t use it, is that kind of what we’re stressing here by having carrier groups go through?
BONNIE GLASER: The United States has been doing this of course for centuries. And since 1979, it has had a freedom of navigation program.
And, in fact, this is the seventh what we call FONOP that has been conducted since 2011 in the South China Sea. And, yes, I think if the Navy does not sail through, and not just the U.S. Navy, but Australia navy, Japan’s navy doesn’t sail through waters that are high seas, that they are not territorial seas of other countries, even in territorial seas, we can sail through making innocent passage.
And, in fact, that is really what we did in this case. We sailed through a territorial sea of China’s Subi Reef. So, yes, you have to exercise it or other countries may claim it and may try to exclude other navies.
SUMMARY: During a visit to Vietnam, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter spoke out about tensions in the South China Sea, where the Chinese have been rapidly building reefs into human-made islands. President Obama said China shouldn’t be “throwing elbows” over its claim. While Beijing denies hostile intent, the Pentagon says surveillance flights have spotted artillery systems. William Brangham reports.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour): The secretary’s Asia-Pacific tour took him to Vietnam today, but China, and its recent moves at sea, were never far from mind.
ASHTON CARTER, Defense Secretary: The United States opposes militarization and the creation of tensions in the South China Sea, even though we are not a claimant to the South China Sea.’
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The issue also drew President Obama’s attention at a White House event today. He suggested that China may have some legitimate claims, but:
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: They shouldn’t just try to establish that based on throwing elbows and pushing people out of the way. If in fact their claims are legitimate, people will realize them.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The clash of claims now focuses on the Spratly Islands, where the Chinese are rapidly building reefs into man-made islands.
SUMMARY: President Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter have urged China to curb activities in the disputed South China Sea territory. Vietnam and other allies have also been advised to ease off. Should the U.S. do more to tamp down growing tensions? William Brangham talks to Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute and Kenneth G. Lieberthal of the Brookings Institution.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now to growing tensions in Asia over who controls contested areas in the South China Sea. China has recently tried to expand its claim by dumping tons of sand to build up small reefs into islands capable of holding military equipment.
MAN: China would rather use its bullying force against a small country like the Philippines.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Tough words in Manila today, and protests outside China’s embassy, in what’s become a big dispute over a small chain of islands in the South China Sea.
They’re called the Spratlys, about 1,000 miles south of China’s Hainan province. The archipelago is claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei. But in recent satellite images, it is China that appears to have built up one of the islands, known as the Fiery Cross Reef, constructing an airstrip there. The island is reportedly large enough for a 9,500-foot runway, which could accommodate military aircraft.
Today in Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman defended the project.
HONG LEI, Spokesman, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, China (through interpreter): The relevant construction is conducted within China’s sovereign territory. It is reasonable, understandable and legal, and it is not targeting or affecting any other country.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. has weighed in on the dispute. The commander of American forces in the Pacific spoke at a congressional hearing.
ADM. SAMUEL LOCKLEAR, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command: The implications are, if this activity continues at pace, is that it — it would give them de facto control, I think, in peacetime, of much of the world’s most important waterways.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.S. has expressed concerns about China’s land reclamation, which has gotten so tense at points that Chinese ships have blocked vessels from other countries.
SUMMARY: Tensions among some Asian nations are growing after satellite images showed that China has been building up small islands in a disputed area of the South China Sea. Judy Woodruff talks to retired Adm. Dennis Blair, former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, to learn more about the contested area and the U.S. response.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Tensions between China and Vietnam reached a fever pitch today, as thousands of protesters in Vietnam went on a rampage over Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
Clouds of smoke rose skyward over foreign-owned factories near Ho Chi Minh City today, casualties in an escalating territorial struggle with China. Rioters targeted industrial sites they believed were Chinese-run, but a provincial official said some were actually Taiwanese or South Korean-owned.
The mobs torched at least 15 plants. Scores more were looted or vandalized. In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded action to calm the situation.
HUA CHUNYING, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, China (through interpreter): China is seriously concerned with these incidents. The Foreign Ministry has called in the Vietnamese ambassador to China and lodged a solemn demand for Vietnam to take immediate and effective measures to stop and punish the illegal activities.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The protests, rarely allowed in Vietnam, began peacefully enough several days ago, but officials claimed today they’d been hijacked by extremists. They said 440 people were detained.
Vietnamese anger flared after the Chinese began operating an oil rig in disputed waters near the Paracel Islands. They’re controlled by China, but claimed by Hanoi.
Both sides have accused the other of intentionally ramming their vessels. Chinese ships also fired water cannon at Vietnamese crews. Today, the Vietnamese coast guard claimed Chinese ships had once again blocked attempts to reach the rig.
COL. PHAN DUY CUONG, Vietnamese Coast Guard Tactical Assistance (through interpreter): Today, we got as close as 12 kilometers to the oil rig, and Chinese forces reacted with many ships and followed us closely. At one point, five Chinese ships surrounded one of ours to stop us from getting close to the oil rig that is operating illegally in our territories.
JUDY WOODRUFF: China has rejected Vietnam’s complaints and defended its own actions. Again, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman:
HUA CHUNYING (through interpreter): I think it’s quite obvious who is the provoker, who is the victim, who is trying to calm the situation, and who is escalating tension.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In Washington, the White House has criticized China’s actions in the territorial dispute. But spokesman Jay Carney appealed today for calm on both sides.
JAY CARNEY, White House Press Secretary: These are disputes that need to be resolved through dialogue, not through intimidation. And we are not a party to the specific disputes, but we, again, urge dialogue and their resolution.
JUDY WOODRUFF: China is also involved in territorial disputes with the Philippines and Japan.
SUMMARY: Judy Woodruff talks to Kenneth Lieberthal of the Brookings Institution and Gordon Chang, a Forbes.com columnist, about the historical rupture and motives underlying a dispute over a Chinese oil rig placed in waters claimed by Vietnam.
