Philippines Proposes Way Out of China Impasse

Philippine naval personnel aboard one of the Chinese fishing vessels Tuesday, as the showdown got underway (Philippine Navy/Associated Press)

April 12, 2012
By JAMES HOOKWAY
The Wall Street Journal

MANILA—Philippine and Chinese officials Thursday continued looking for ways to defuse a potentially explosive naval standoff over waters that both claim as their own in one of Asia's biggest potential security flashpoints, the South China Sea.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippine Navy withdrewing a warship which Wednesday tried to arrest Chinese fishermen whom the navy said were illegally operating in Philippine waters. The Philippines replaced the Gregorio del Pilar—which was supplied by the U.S.—with a coast guard vessel in an apparent move to play down the incident, and also match China's strategy of sending nonmilitary surveillance ships to the area. China sent the ships to prevent the arrests.

"We're moving forward, but it's still a work in progress," Mr. del Rosario said.

People familiar with the diplomatic efforts said it appears that both sides want to resolve the stand-off before the 12 Chinese fishing vessels detained at Scarborough Shoal off the Philippines' northwest coast run low on provisions. One person said that the Philippine and Chinese governments, despite the rhetoric about national sovereignty in the South China Sea, are anxious to find ways to calm the situation in order to prevent future confrontations arising.

China, the regional military power, is engaged in a series of overlapping territorial disputes in the South China Sea's resource-rich waters with the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei and Vietnam. All claim the South China Sea or parts of it as their sovereign territory, and the disputes have flared in recent months as attention begins to focus on the rich oil and gas reserves are believed to lie below the seabed.

Over the past 12 months, the Philippines and Vietnam in particular have reacted increasingly strongly toward China's claims to the waters. Both Hanoi and Manila have accused Chinese vessels of harassing exploration ships operating in their United Nations-defined maritime economic zones. Beijing denies doing so, but has made a point of warning Vietnam and the Philippines from developing energy resources in the region without China's agreement.

The latest stand-off began Tuesday when the Gregorio del Pilar stopped to inspect the activities of several Chinese fishing boats anchored in the Scarborough Shoal area. Filipino sailors found illegally harvested coral and live sharks in one vessel, and made plans to return the next day to arrest the Chinese fishermen. On Wednesday, though, two Chinese surveillance vessels arrived in the area, blocking the Philippine crew from boarding and detaining the fishermen and triggering the crisis.

On Thursday, the Philippines said China had dispatched a third vessel to the area. In a news briefing, China's foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin described the Chinese craft as nonmilitary "public service" vessels.