Coastal Province's Fishing Rules Alarm U.S.
By BREE FENG
How Hwee Young/European Pressphoto Agency Fishermen bustle with their wares in Hainan, where the provincial government says that foreign fishing vessels must obtain approval to enter waters it says are under its jurisdiction.New fishing regulations issued by a Chinese province along the South China Sea have once again focused international attention on a complex territorial dispute and raised the question of what kind of power China will become.
In a move that a spokeswoman for the State Department, Jen Psaki, on Thursday called a "provocative and potentially dangerous act," the southern Chinese province of Hainan issued the new regulations, effective Jan. 1, that require foreign fishing vessels to obtain permission from the Chinese government before plying sea waters that China claims.
At a regular briefing on Thursday in Beijing, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that such local regulations were "completely normal and routine practice." She did not answer a question about the scope of the new regulations.
The South China Sea is at the heart of a territorial dispute involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Taiwan also claims parts of the sea. Beijing's claim is outlined in a controversial "nine-dash line" boundary that encompasses much of the resource-rich waters, which are also a major strategic waterway for international trade.
Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, said in emailed comments that the province's new regulations were a "major escalation of China's jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea."
Mr. Thayer added that the rules may heighten tensions in the region and possibly "undermine if not torpedo" planned efforts between China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to create a binding code of conduct in the South China Sea.
The United States has repeatedly urged the claimants of the South China Sea to agree on the code to govern behavior on the seas and lower the risk of accidental confrontation. Even if such a code were reached among the claimants, however, it would not resolve the sovereignty claims.
Other analysts differed on the impact of the province's new regulations.
"If implemented, the measures would constitute an effort to control fishing in the entire region in a manner that is clearly inconsistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea," Taylor Fravel, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in an article for The Diplomat.
However, Mr. Fravel questioned whether China would end up enforcing this rule "actively and aggressively" in the South China Sea. The measures "are unlikely in the short to medium term to result in a sustained Chinese effort to control fishing," he said.
Critics point out that China has yet to offer any basis for its nine-dash line boundary in international law. The waters that China and Vietnam claim both extend far beyond their respective shores to the doorstep of other nations.
"It is reasonable for a coastal country to require foreign fishing vessels to obtain permits while fishing in waters under its jurisdiction," said Yanmei Xie, a China analyst at the International Crisis Group. "The problem here is that which waters are under China's jurisdiction is disputed."
This "unusual" decision by Hainan may be due to several reasons, including strengthened maritime law enforcement capabilities, or a belief that its mandate has been expanded since the central government set a goal of becoming a maritime power, Ms. Xie said.
As of Friday, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued a response. In a statement released to The New York Times on Friday afternoon, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said that it had asked China to "immediately clarify" its new fishing rules and that the Philippines was "gravely concerned by this new regulation."
"This development escalates tensions, unnecessarily complicates the situation in the South China Sea, and threatens the peace and stability of the region. This new law reinforces China's expansive claim under the nine-dash line," the statement said.
It is unclear how the announcement affected discussions at the first round of consultations between China and Vietnam on maritime joint development, held in Beijing on Wednesday. When it was arranged last year, the mechanism was seen as a positive move in managing accidental risks of conflict between the two countries over the seas.
The new regulations leave important unanswered questions, including what fines foreign vessels will face. One of the most critical is how China plans to regulate the presence of foreign fishing vessels.
In terms of sheer numbers and technology, China's ability to enforce civilian maritime law is stronger than ever with several new ships having been commissioned in the past few years. Along with other bureaucratic restructuring, the central government consolidated four civilian law enforcement agencies into one single entity, the China Coast Guard, last year.
The move will improve the efficiency of China's maritime law enforcement and its ability to protect its oceanic resources and safeguard its maritime rights and interests, the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Ma Kai, a state councilor, as saying at the time.
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