Xisha Islands News

Three State-owned enterprises from the shipping, tourism and construction sectors will cooperate to equip up to eight cruise liners and offer diversified sightseeing services to tap the travel market in the South China Sea, says China Daily. Sanya International Cruise Development Co Ltd, a joint venture by COSCO Shipping, China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corp and China Communications Construction Co Ltd, will buy between five and eight ships. In addition to buying between five and eight ships, the plan calls for the construction of new docks in the resort city of Sanya. Liu Junli, chairman of Sanya International, said the ships may also "cruise around the South China Sea at the appropriate time," according to China Daily.

China’s state-owned COSCO Shipping Corp plans to launch cruise services in the South China Sea in July, reports Reuters. The first route is expected to travel from Sanya to the Yongle Island, part of the Xisha Islands in Hainan province. Its part of Beijing’s plans to transform several islands in the disputed waterway into tourist destinations to bolster its territorial claims. "It is practical to stimulate the local economy through development of tourism, logistics and infrastructure facilities," Xu Lirong, chairman of COSCO Shipping, said. China COSCO Shipping signed a contract with China National Travel Service (HK) Group Corp and China Communications Construction Co Ltd in late April, to jointly establish a cruise company to offer tourism services in the South China Sea.

A statement on the China Foreign Ministry’s website, claims that as of 5 pm on June 7, 2014 there were as many as 63 Vietnamese vessels in the area near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea at the peak, attempting to break through China’s cordon and ramming Chinese government ships a total of 1,416 times. On 2 May 2014, a Chinese company's HYSY 981 drilling rig started its drilling operation inside the contiguous zone of China's Xisha Islands for the purpose of oil and gas exploration. With the first phase of the operation completed, the second phase began on 27 May. Using frogmen, fishing nets, floating objects and hundreds of boat rammings, Vietnam escalated its harassment of China over Beijing’s legal oil drilling in the South China Sea.

Search is ongoing in the South China Sea amid strong gales for 74 crew missing after three fishing boats sank in Typhoon 'Wutip'. The three boats, all from south China's Guangdong Province with 88 fishermen aboard, were lost on Sunday afternoon near Shanhu Island of the Xisha Islands, about 330 km from China's island province of Hainan, sources with the Hainan maritime search and rescue center informed Xinhua. Of these, 14 survivors had been rescued. The Chinese Navy's Nanhai Fleet has sent 7 warships, a helicopter and ten rescue teams to search the waters around the scene of the accident. Currently, a total of 277 fishermen trapped in the typhoon have been sheltered by the army at Chenhang Island as of Monday evening.

China's plans to sail a cruise ship to the Paracels Islands in the South China Sea ahead of the nation's coming May Day holiday likely to escalate tensions. China is planning to let tourists visit the Xisha Islands (the name China has given to the Paracels Archipelago) ahead of the forthcoming May Day holiday, according to  Vietnam's Thanhnien News, citing a  China state news agency Xinhua  report. An unnamed 47,000 tons cruise ship owned by Haihang Group with accommodation for 1,965 passengers is ready for sailing. The official Vietnam News Agency claims the announcement violates Vietnam’s sovereignty and is against the spirit of the talks in which China committed to fully follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun summoned Vietnamese Ambassador to China Nguyen Van Tho recently to lodge a solemn representation to the Vietnamese side concerning the recent passing of a Vietnamese maritime law that extends the country's jurisdiction to islands claimed by China. The Vietnam National Assembly on Thursday passed the "Vietnamese Law of the Sea," which describes China's Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea as being within Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction. Reaffirming that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Xisha Islands, Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters, Zhang said the law infringes upon China's sovereignty. "China strongly protests and firmly opposes such a move by Vietnam," he said.