Vietnam to hold live-fire drill amid China dispute

Vietnam is set to hold live-fire naval drills on Monday in the South China Sea, as tensions with Beijing reach their highest levels in years over an escalating maritime dispute.

The neighbouring nations are at loggerheads over sovereignty of the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly archipelagos and surrounding waters, where recent confrontations between their ships have sparked a war of words.

A Vietnamese naval officer told AFP that the six hours of live-fire exercises would be held around Hon Ong island, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) off Quang Nam province in central Vietnam.

The officer declined to give the reason for the night drill or say how many vessels would be involved, but foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said the exercises were part of routine annual training.

The drills will be held in the area claimed as Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, where Hanoi last month accused Chinese surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship, causing tensions to rise sharply.

On Thursday Vietnam alleged a similar incident in the zone, saying a Chinese fishing boat rammed the cables of another oil survey ship in its waters, describing it as a "premeditated" attack.

Beijing countered by warning Vietnam to halt all activities that it says violate China's sovereignty in the disputed area.

The United States said it was "troubled" by tensions triggered by the maritime border dispute, calling for a "peaceful resolution".

The area where the live-fire exercise is planned is about 250 kilometres from the Paracels and almost 1,000 kms from the Spratlys.

Carl Thayer, a veteran analyst of Vietnam and the South China Sea, said that the drill would be a way for Vietnam to send a message, after China a day earlier also said it would conduct naval exercises.

Thayer said Vietnam was firing "a soft warning shot across the bow, rather than a real one."

But he added such drills were not unprecedented because Vietnam held an air-defence drill on land about two months ago.

Beijing says it is committed to peace in the South China Sea, but its more assertive maritime posture has caused concern among regional nations and beyond.

Tensions have also risen this year between China and the Philippines, another claimant to the Spratlys, where Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also say they have a stake.

In Vietnam, where protests are rarely held, hundreds of citizens in southern Ho Chi Minh City and in Hanoi held anti-China rallies on Sunday, bearing signs proclaiming Vietnamese sovereignty over the disputed archipelagos.

Vietnamese bitterly recall 1,000 years of Chinese occupation and, more recently, a 1979 border war. More than 70 Vietnamese sailors were killed in 1988 when the two sides had a battle off the Spratlys.

US not coming to Philippines' aid vs China

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The United States has said it will not side with any party in the Spratlys conflict, which is to say that the Philippines' most powerful ally will not be coming to its aid should its spat with China escalate into a shooting war.

The US Embassy made this clear in reaction to a Malacanang (the presidential palace) statement expressing confidence that Washington would honour its commitment under the two countries' Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT) to come to the aid of a beleaguered ally.

"The US does not take sides in regional territorial disputes," the US press attache Rebecca Thompson said in an e-mailed statement when contacted for comment to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte's invoking of the 60-year-old MDT.

Thompson said the US was "troubled by incidents in the South China Sea in recent days that have raised tensions in the region" and that Washington opposes "the use or threat of force" by any of the countries with rival claims to the Spratly islands.

The brief statement said the US "shares a number of national interests with the international community in the South China Sea" but did not mention the Philippines or the two countries' over-a-hundred-year-old ties and mutual defence pact.

In an interview on state-run dzRB radio earlier on Saturday, Valte figured the Philippines could count on its superpower ally should the situation with China deteriorate because of the MDT.

"I haven't seen the terms of the MDT quite recently but I know that as an ally, the United States will help if ever it reaches that point because of the Mutual Defence Treaty," she said.

"Hopefully, it doesn't get to that point because, again, we are committed to the resolution of the issue in the most diplomatic and the most peaceful way possible," she added.

Armed Forces Chief General Eduardo Oban was also earlier quoted as saying that the military remained "hopeful that the Americans will not stand aside should the conflict erupt and that they can invoke the MDT with the US".

The MDT was signed on Aug 13, 1951, in Washington, DC with both parties declaring "publicly and formally their sense of unity and their common determination to defend themselves against external armed attack".

Under the eight articles of the treaty, both parties agree to aid and support each other in settling any international disputes by peaceful means, among others.

Sentor Francis Escudero said the Department of Foreign Affairs should be designated as the lead agency to talk about the Spratlys issue in public.

Avoid any mistakes

He said Malacanang should not do so through its spokespersons "in order to avoid any faux pas on our part".

Escudero said the government should also review the MDT to ascertain if US forces would indeed come to the rescue if the Philippines is attacked because of the Spratlys dispute.

He said Palace officials should carefully review the MDT, read through its fine print and get confirmations from the US government "if indeed this situation is covered".

But he remained optimistic that US military support would be given in case of an armed conflict as "a gesture of longstanding friendship".

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House would leave it to the Department of Foreign Affairs assert the country's sovereignty claim over the West Philippine Sea.

"The DFA is articulating our position and we're supporting it," he said.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Commodore Miguel Rodriguez said the AFP leaves it to the DFA to make an official comment on the developments in the Spratlys issue.

Not joining Viet Nam

"We submit our reports to the DFA and the DFA crafts the country's position on KIG [Kalayaan Island Group] affairs," he said, referring to the portion of the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines.

He also said the military was not joining Viet Nam, another Spratlys claimant, in the deepening rift with China over the issue.

"We are not looking at partnering with one country against another country," he said.

At a Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Independence Day dinner Saturday night, President Aquino came face to face with Chinese Ambassador Liu Jiangchao who only a few days ago had warned claimant states to stop exploring for oil in the Spratlys.

"Like all neighbours, I know we may have our disagreements sometimes," Aquino said in his speech, acknowledging Liu's presence.

"(But) no one can deny the benefits our relationship has brought to both our countries throughout the years," he added.

Liu adverted to "incidents" that have arisen between the two countries since Aquino came to power.

"But facts have manifested we are stronger than these tests," he said.

Liu said the August 23 botched hostage crisis involving Hong Kong tourists had been settled with a "loving and understanding heart".

"The last thing the Chinese government and people want to see is that the [Spratlys] dispute stands in the way of the progress of our wonderful relations and the friendship and brotherhood of our two peoples," Liu said, who hinted at a visit to China from Aquino later this year.

In the past two weeks, the Philippines has accused China of making at least six incursions into Philippine territory in the past four months, a charge that Beijing has dismissed as rumors.

Recently, the Aquino government has made a point of referring to the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea to bolster its claim to certain parts of the Spratlys. With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, DJ Yap and Cynthia D. Balana

Philippines names disputed Spratly areas 'West Philippine Sea'

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The Philippine government has apparently made it settled doctrine to use "West Philippine Sea" to refer to the waters west of the country where the Philippines has overlapping territorial claims with five other nations, instead of the all-embracing tag of "South China Sea".

Tellingly, Malacanang (the presidential palace) Friday (June 10) used "West Philippine Sea" for the first time in a statement reacting to China's warning on Thursday (June 9), issued through Ambassador Liu Jianchao, to rival claimants to the disputed Spratlys island group to stop searching for oil in the contested region without permission from China.

"The Republic of the Philippines has stated its position on the various territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea. We are committed to hold dialogue with other claimants," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told a news briefing.

"We call on all parties to refrain from inflammatory statements that would make it more difficult to reach a mutually agreeable solution," he said.

In the past two weeks, the Philippines has publicly accused Chinese forces of being behind seven confrontations with Filipinos in the Spratlys in less than four months.

However, Liu said the reported incidents were mere "rumours" or exaggeration, even as he asserted China's claim to the reputedly oil-rich Spratlys island chain.

The islands are claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Viet Nam.

Based on history

Lacierda said the Palace was taking its cue from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which has been using "West Philippine Sea" in the series of letters and notes verbales protesting China's incursions into areas that the DFA claims were well within Philippine territory.

The DFA earlier explained that using "West Philippine Sea" to refer to the waters where the disputed territories lie was "in keeping with our tradition and history as well as reflective of its proper geographic location".

The same waters "have long been called Dagat Luzon, or Luzon Sea by our fisherfolk and the rest of our people, and referred to as such in published maps since time immemorial after the major Philippine island of Luzon", DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya explained earlier.

"On the other hand, South China Sea in Chinese is simply South Sea, while for the Vietnamese it is East Sea," he said.

Akbayan party-list member Walden Bello has filed House Resolution No 1350 proposing to officially name the region the "West Philippine Sea" to "strengthen [the Philippines'] claim to these controversial waters and the natural resources found within".

Subliminal message

On Friday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) weighed in, saying it has deliberately been using West Philippine Sea to refer to the area.

"What's in a name, but when people keep saying that it is the South China Sea, there is a subliminal message that this is indeed a sea belonging to a country whose name appears in the name," said Commodore Miguel Jose Rodriguez, the AFP deputy chief of staff for civil military operations who is also the military spokesperson.

'Kalayaan Sea'

"Viet Nam calls it their East Sea and China calls it their South Sea. We in the Philippines should call it West Philippine Sea," he said.

Rodriguez (Philippine Military Academy Class of 1980) recalled that at the PMA, they were taught to refer to the area as "Kalayaan Sea" based on a newly issued presidential decree at the time naming the area claimed by the Philippines as the Kalayaan island group, or the "Luzon Sea" or "West Palawan Sea".

The United States on Friday called on the Asian countries fighting for control of the Spratlys to resolve the issue peacefully.

"As Ambassador Harry Thomas, (Defence) Secretary (Robert) Gates and other US officials have said, we urge all claimants to exercise restraint in dealing with competing claims in the South China Sea. These issues need to be resolved peacefully within the framework of international law," said Rebecca Thompson, US Embassy press attache, in a statement apparently issued in response to Liu's warning.

Rules-based approach

The DFA on Friday reiterated the Philippines' rules-based approach to ending the dispute.

It has proposed the concept of a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation in which disputed territories could be recognised from undisputed areas as provided under international law.

"The Philippines has offered a specific framework for the resolution of differences and the pursuit of cooperation in the form of the ZOPFFC," said Malaya.

In the ZOPFFC, the disputed islands could be "enclaved" by segregating them and adjacent waters from the rest of the waters of the South China Sea.

The DFA has said the enclaved area could be designated as a Joint Cooperation Area where joint activities could be conducted, such as marine scientific research, search and rescue operations, oil spill preparedness and conservation projects.

Defence posture

AFP Chief General Eduardo Oban Jr. said the military is careful to "avoid any miscalculation" that would provoke open hostilities in the Spratlys.

Speaking at the Manila Overseas Press Club forum on Thursday, Oban said the military has been keeping an "active defence posture" following China's incursions this year into Philippine territory.

"If a Chinese vessel or any foreign vessel becomes hostile to us to the point of shooting at our own people, then we have to shoot back. We try to avoid that," said Oban, a former Air Force fighter pilot.

Presence as deterrence

"We just hope they won't (make further incursions). We will maintain our presence as a deterrent to incursions," he said.

While there have been six incursions from China, the military also recorded "some" incursions from Viet Nam, he said.

Oban said the Philippines' diplomatic protests against the Chinese incursions were backed by reports from military field units.

Despite the ongoing spat with China, Oban does not consider the tensions serious.

"I give a low rating (between 1 to 10) in terms of the seriousness based on the incursions because of the statements made by [Chinese Defence Minister] General Liang Guanglie. That's quite reassuring, (that) they're open for a peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said.With reports from Jerry E. Esplanada and Julie M. Aurelio

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