PHL Rejects China’s New Fisheries Rule

The Philippines rejected China’s new fisheries rule that exercises control over a vast part of the disputed South China Sea, saying no state can subject the high seas to its sovereignty.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez last week described the Chinese restriction “a gross violation of international law.”

He said that it “escalates tensions, unnecessarily complicates the situation in the South China Sea and threatens the peace and stability of the region.”

The DFA spokesman said China’s regulation violates the spirit of a non-binding code of conduct that China signed in 2001 with Southeast Asian nations, calling all claimants to exercise restraint and stop new occupation in the disputed place.

Hernandez added “We are gravely concerned by this new regulation that would require foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval from Chinese regional authorities before fishing or surveying in a large portion of the South China Sea.”

Hernandez said a diplomatic protest has not been filed yet pending clarification from Beijing on its new fisheries law issued by the Hainan Provincial People’s Congress that took effect on January 1, 2014.

Hernandez said the Philippines “is not the only country adversely affected by these regulation,” adding that “These regulations seriously violate the freedom of navigation and the right to fish of all states in the high seas as provided for under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

UNCLOS is a 1982 accord by 163 countries that governs the use of offshore areas and sets territorial limits of coastal states. The Philippines and China are both signatories to the treaty.

The South China Sea is being claimed wholly or in part by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

The Philippines claims to parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone as West Philippine Sea.

“Under customary international law, no state can subject the high seas to its sovereignty,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez noted the new law is another Chinese reinforcement of its expansive claim under the so-called “nine-dash line.”

Source: Gma News Online

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