Huangyan Island News

A U.S. Navy destroyer this week sailed near the Scarborough Shoal, a disputed lagoon claimed by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said on Saturday, and Beijing vowed to take “necessary measures” to protect what it said was its sovereignty. China’s foreign ministry said USS Hopper missile destroyer came within 12 nautical miles off Huangyan island, better known as the Scarborough Shoal and subject to a rival claim by the Philippines, a historic ally of the United States. It was the latest U.S.

China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday declined to say if it supported an executive order by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declaring part of the disputed Scarborough Shoal a marine sanctuary off-limits to fishermen. The dispute over the Scarborough Shoal is one of several involving South East Asian countries seeking to counter China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. Since 2012, China has deployed its coastguard to block the shoal from Filipinos, despite its location within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Duterte plans to make a unilateral declaration barring fishermen from exploiting marine life at a tranquil lagoon that was central to years of bitter squabbling, and the basis of an arbitration case brought, and won, by the Philippines.

Chinese ships are no longer at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and Philippine boats can resume fishing, the Philippine defence minister said on Friday, calling the Chinese departure a "welcome development". Philippine fishermen can access the shoal unimpeded for the first time in four years, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, capping off a startling turnaround in ties since his country rattled China by challenging its maritime claims at an international tribunal. The departure of the Chinese coast guard ships comes after President Rodrigo Duterte's high-profile visit to Beijing and his repeated requests for China to end its blockade of the shoal, a tranquil lagoon rich in fish stocks.

Unimpeded access for first time in 4 yrs. Ships' departure follows Philippine president's visit to China. Chinese ships are no longer at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and Philippine boats can resume fishing, the Philippine defence minister said on Friday, calling the Chinese departure a "welcome development". Philippine fishermen could access the shoal unimpeded for the first time in four years, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, capping off a startling turnaround in ties since his country rattled China in 2013 by challenging its maritime claims at an international tribunal. The departure of the Chinese coastguard comes after President Rodrigo Duterte's high-profile visit to Beijing and follows his repeated requests for China to end its blockade of the shoal…

The U.S. military conducted "freedom of navigation" operations against 13 countries last year, including several to challenge China's claims in the South and East China seas, according to an annual Pentagon report released on Monday. The operations were against China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Vietnam, the report said. It did not specify how many such operations were conducted against each of those countries. The U.S. military carried out single operations against Taiwan, Nicaragua and Argentina, for a total of 13 countries, the department said in the two-page report. The freedom of navigation operations involve sending U.S. Navy ships and military aircraft into areas where other countries have tried to limit access.

Philippine fishermen threw fire bombs at Chinese law enforcement vessels in the South China Sea, China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, after Philippine media said fishermen had been struck by bottles hurled from Chinese coast guard ships. China and the Philippines have long exchanged accusations about each other's behaviour in the disputed South China Sea. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. Philippine media said this week that a group of fishermen had been chased away from Scarborough Shoal by Chinese coast guards who hurled bottles at them. The fishermen then responded with rocks, the reports said.

China on Wednesday defended the actions of its vessels in the disputed South China Sea after the Philippines accused China's coast guard of using water cannon on Philippine fishing boats and urged Manila to increase its "education" of its fishermen. Filipino fishermen said that China's coast guard boarded their fishing boats and threw away fish catch and fishing gear last week after spraying them with water in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The presidential palace in Manila said China's coast guard used water cannon on Monday to drive away a group of Filipino fishermen at Scarborough Shoal, damaging some of their wooden boats. Chinese ships rammed a fishing boat in the area a few months ago.

China has strengthened controls in the disputed waters & about 20 Chinese fishing vessels are operating off Huangyan Island China has strengthened controls in the Huangyan Island waters in response to the actions of the Philippines, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in Beijing. "The operating manners of the fishing boats is consistent with China's relevant laws as well as China's fishing moratorium orders," he said, rejecting some Philippine media reports which said China had sent nearly 100 vessels to the waters. China has been implementing a summer fishing moratorium, lasting from May 16 to August 1, in some parts of the South China Sea, as a routine annual measure to rehabilitate marine resources.

China opposes Philippines' decision to draw a third party into the incident over Huangyan Island as the move will further escalate the situation and even change nature of the issue according to a Chinese Foreing Ministry spokesman. Instead China has consistently used diplomatic means to urge the Philippines to correct its mistake, says Xinhua, the officieal Chinese News Agency. China has voiced "firm opposition" to the Philippines' decision to draw a third party into the incident over Huangyan Island. A recent Philippine media report quoted the country's foreign affairs secretary as saying that some countries are helping the Philippines to establish a "minimum credible defense posture" to complement its diplomatic capacity in dealing with territorial disputes with China.