By Here is another country having problems with Chinese fishing boats:
The Philippines and China continued looking for a diplomatic solution to a naval standoff on Thursday, even as Manila sent a second vessel to disputed islands in the South China Sea.
Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raul Hernandez said a coast guard boat has been sent to the Scarborough Shoal, located about 230 km off the northwestern Philippines.
It will join the Philippine Navy’s largest vessel, the U.S.-built Gregorio del Pilar, which since Tuesday has been in a standoff with two Chinese surveillance vessels that blocked the arrest of a group of Chinese fishermen there.
Both sides say they prefer to solve the situation diplomatically, but warn that they will take further steps to protect their sovereign rights to the group of islands, which are known as Panatag in the Philippines, and as Huangyan Island in China. [Chosun Ilbo]
It looks to me like the Chinese are trying to provoke an over response from the Philippines using these fishing boats in order to build up domestic support to militarily push their claims over the various islands in the South China Sea. Looking on Google Earth the Scarborough Shoal is no where near China and off the coast of the Philippines. Here is one of the pictures posted on Google Earth of the shoal which appears to be a more impressive rock formation than Dokdo:
What I find interesting is that the pictures posted on Google Earth is by someone from China claiming the shoal for China which has ignited an online conflict between Chinese and Filipino commenters on the various pictures. It makes me wonder if the Chinese government is deliberately having people post these pictures and comments?
Oh by the way I also noticed on Google Earth that not to far from the shoal is a Vietnamese oil rig which makes me believe this is about more than just fishing grounds.
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10:47 am on April 13th, 2012 1
Beautiful island!
Love how the lagoon is deeper water than the ring around the outside…
11:46 am on April 13th, 2012 2
The picture is impressive because it’s a picture of Bora Bora.
5:43 pm on April 13th, 2012 3
#2,
It is indeed Bora Bora. I wonder why someone would make such a “mistake”.
Here’s a link to a real picture of Scarborough Shoal:
http://www.news.com.au/world/philippine-warship-and-chinese-vessels/story-e6frfkyi-1226324037020
A lot less impressive, isn’t it?
8:18 pm on April 13th, 2012 4
Interesting this situation brews up just before the annual Fil-Am Balikatan exercise slated to start next week. Right now it looks like both sides have said they won’t escalate the situation, but then they won’t withdraw either. China has been looking for a while now to make someone an example over all the claims various nations are making to the Spratly Islands. Hopefully this current standoff can get resolved peacefully.
11:08 pm on April 14th, 2012 5
@ Teardrinker-LMFAO! It’s almost not worth getting into the boat to plant the flag!
1:59 am on April 21st, 2012 6
US-Philippine exercises may lead to chaos, confrontation, and armed force, says a commentary in Liberation Army Daily. Anyhow, that’s what Chris Buckley, reporting for Reuters says the commentary says, but he doesn’t provide a link to it.
4:51 am on April 21st, 2012 7
I wonder if the Philippine President will be requesting the americans to reestablish a naval base near the area.
5:42 pm on May 10th, 2012 8
The Scarborough Shoal dispute between the Philippines and China remains acute. Manila’s foreign affairs spokesman says Philippine diplomats “are endeavoring to undertake a new diplomatic initiative, which we hope will help defuse the situation.” The CNN report by Stan Grant and Paul Armstrong bears the headline “Tensions over disputed island appear to ease,” but the text and video don’t seem to support that.
4:46 pm on June 2nd, 2012 9
We will shift our naval power to the Pacific, says Leon Panetta in Singapore. This is no threat to China. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully. Panetta will also visit Vietnam and India. Here’s the AlJazeera report with text and video.
10:49 pm on July 17th, 2012 10
And now the Russians have had enough of China’s nonsense. Kevin Voigt of CNN reports that the Russian coast guard fired warning shots at a Chinese fishing vessel before ramming it. The Russians detained two Chines boats. People’s Daily wept bitter tears of indignation.