Singapore concerned – India prepared to Send Warship in West Philippine Sea

India Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi said India would protect its interests even if it means sending forces in the West Philippine Sea

Singapore concerned over China's West Philippine Sea rule

Dec 3, 2012 (Reuters) - Singapore expressed concern on Monday over China's plan to board and search ships sailing in what it considers its territory in the West Philippine Sea, as tension grows over Beijing's sovereignty claims in busy Southeast Asian waters.

"Singapore is concerned about this recent turn of events," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to a recent Chinese media report on new rules that will allow police in the southern Chinese province of Hainan to board and seize control of foreign ships which "illegally enter" its waters from Jan. 1.

Wealthy Singapore, home to the world's second-busiest container port, is the second Southeast Asian country to publicly express concern over the new rules after the Philippines on Saturday condemned the Chinese plan as illegal.

The issue divided Southeast Asian leaders at a summit last month in Phnom Penh, where host Cambodia, a staunch China ally, sought to limit discussion on the mineral-rich sea, where China's claims overlap in places with those of four Southeast Asian countries and of Taiwan.

Tension over the West Philippine Sea, home to a third of the world's shipping activity, is entering a new and more contentious chapter, as claimant nations build up their navies and alliances with other nations, particularly with the United States.

"We urge all parties to the territorial disputes in the West Philippines Sea to refrain from provocative behaviour," the Singapore government said in a statement.

"It is important for all parties to respect the accepted principles of international law ... and refrain from taking actions that could escalate tensions."

China's sovereignty claims over the stretch of water off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia set it directly against U.S. allies Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.

The tensions illustrate the difficulty of forging a Southeast Asian consensus over how to deal with an increasingly assertive China.

Estimates for proven and undiscovered oil reserves in the West Philippine Sea range as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a 2008 report. That would surpass every country's proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.

Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said on Friday the Chinese plan was a "very serious turn of events".

India will protects its interests in West Philippine Sea, says Navy chief

New Delhi: Viewing the rapid modernisation of Chinese Navy as a "major concern", Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi on Monday made it clear that India would protect its interests in the disputed West Philippine Sea, even if it means sending forces there.

"Yes you are right. The modernisation (of Chinese Navy) is truly impressive... It is actually a major cause of concern for us, which we continuously evaluate and work out our options and our strategies," he told a press conference.

The Navy Chief was replying to a question on contingencies in West Philippine Sea to protect Indian interests there and impression about the Chinese Navy's modernisation.

Answering a volley of questions about West Philippine Sea over which India had a tiff with China in 2011, he said although India's presence in that maritime region was not on "very very frequent" basis, it had interests like free navigation and exploitation of natural resources there.

"Not that we expect to be in those waters very very frequently, but when the requirement is there for situations where country's interests are involved, for example ONGC Videsh, we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that. Are we holding exercises for that nature, the short answer is yes," Joshi said.

Talking about Indian interests in the West Philippine Sea, he said the first of it included freedom of navigation.

"Not only us, but everyone is of the view that they have to be resolved by the parties concerned, aligned with the international regime, which is outlined in UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), that is our first requirement," he said.

With report from Reuters and IBN Live

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Angry Vietnam – Stamped new China E PASSPORT “INVALID”

Angry Vietnam of New China passport depicting the Territory of the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and India - VIETNAM Stamped the New China E Passport as "INVALID"

ASEAN Chief: South China Sea risks becoming 'Asia's Palestine'

Jakarta (CNN) -- Southeast Asia's top diplomat has warned that the South China Sea disputes risk becoming "Asia's Palestine", deteriorating into a violent conflict that draws sharp dividing lines between nations and destabilises the whole region.

Surin Pitsuwan, the outgoing secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, told the Financial Times that Asia was entering its "most contentious" period in recent years as a rising China stakes out its claim to almost the entire South China Sea, clashing with the Philippines, Vietnam and others.

"We have to be mindful of the fact that the South China Sea could evolve into another Palestine," if countries do not try harder to defuse rather than inflame tensions, he said.

As it has grown economically and militarily more powerful, Beijing has become more assertive about its territorial claims in the South China Sea, which encompasses vast oil and gas reserves, large fish stocks and key global trade routes.

After naval clashes with Vietnam and the Philippines -- which claim parts of the South China Sea alongside Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan -- China has further angered its neighbours by printing a map of its extensive maritime claim, known as the "nine-dotted line" in new passports.

Vietnam has hit back by marking the passports of visiting Chinese as "invalid" and issuing separate visa forms rather than appearing to recognise the Chinese claim by stamping passports.

The US state department on Tuesday said Washington would continue to accept the new Chinese passports as legal documents, adding that countries were free to decide what their passports looked like.

But Victoria Nuland, the state department spokeswoman, added that it was a separate issue "whether it's politically smart or helpful to be taking steps that antagonise countries".

Vietnamese sailors training with a 12.7 mm machine gun on Phan Vinh Island in the disputed Spratly archipelago in 2011

The US has responded to a resurgent Beijing by refocusing its foreign policy on Asia and building closer strategic and military ties with old foes such as Myanmar and Vietnam, which also fear the consequences of potential Chinese hegemony in the region.

Squeezed between these two great powers, southeast Asian nations will come under growing pressure to take sides unless they can stay united, said Mr Pitsuwan, a Thai diplomat who will step down next month after five years as the head of Asean.

He argued that the deteriorating situation in the South China Sea was the result of "the internal dynamics of China", with Beijing focused on upholding its sovereignty and territory because of the recent leadership change, growing prosperity and a sense that the state-building process was still under way.

ASEAN, which is the only high-level forum for security issues in Asia, has fallen into disarray this year as Cambodia, a close Beijing ally and the chairman of the organization, has undermined efforts by the Philippines and Vietnam to form a consensus about how to respond to China's assertive stance.

"Cambodia has to balance itself within an increasingly tense power play," said Mr Pitsuwan. "I think Cambodia did what it had to do -- you have to look at it from their perspective."

He added that the best hope for avoiding conflict was for Asean and China to agree on a binding code of conduct that would discourage nations from trying to seize islands, oilfields and fishing grounds in order to back up their territorial claims.

But this would be challenging given that Asia's political institutions and dispute-resolution mechanisms were still very under-developed relative to the growing region's economic might. (http://is.gd/xFEffT)

CNN – Jakarta 

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