Starting 2013, China police to seize foreign ships in disputed seas

[lastlid]

"Under new rules that threaten to greatly increase the risk of armed conflict, Chinese law enforcers starting next year will be boarding and seizing foreign vessels in areas claimed by China in the volatile West Philippine Sea, according to a report by the Chinese state media.

“That’s too much. While we are exerting all peaceful means, that is what they are doing,” said Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, commander of the AFP's Western Command. “That’s a violation of (the rules) over international passage.”

Sabban was reacting to the report in the official China Daily that said revised regulations allow Chinese authorities to board and search all ships that will enter its territorial waters.

New rules, which come into effect on January 1, will allow Hainan police to board and seize control of foreign ships which "illegally enter" Chinese waters and order them to change course or stop sailing, the official China Daily reported.

"Activities such as entering the island province's waters without permission, damaging coastal defense facilities, and engaging in publicity that threatens national security are illegal," the English-language newspaper said.

Both China and the Philippines — as well Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam — are locked in a dispute over ownership of the Spratly Islands, a chain of islands and islets believed to be rich in oil and minerals deposits, in the West Philippine Sea."


http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...-disputed-seas

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...al-China.html#

[imagine]

what would it be over if there was no oil

[lastlid]

Philippines protests China's threat to search ships

"The Philippines on Saturday denounced Chinese plans to search ships sailing through what Beijing says is its territory in the South China Sea in the latest irritant between the countries.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the plans should be condemned by the international community because they violate maritime domains of countries in the region and impede freedom of navigation.

Chinese state media announced the plans, saying southern Hainan province, which Beijing says administers the South China Sea, had approved laws giving its police the right to search vessels that pass through the waters.

Last week the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and India protested a map on a new Chinese passport that depicts disputed areas as belonging to China."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...ps-search.html