Vietnam Protests Philippine Territorial Law

By JIM GOMEZ / AP WRITER

MANILA — Vietnam on Friday criticized a new Philippine law which China earlier slammed for laying claim to two strategic South China Sea territories claimed by several Asian countries.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed the legislation Tuesday, defining the territorial baseline for the Philippine archipelago's more than 7,100 islands. China immediately protested because the law affirmed a Philippine claim on parts of the Spratly islands and Scarborough Shoal off the country's west coast in the South China Sea.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines, along with Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, claim all or part of about 100 Spratly islets, reefs and atolls, which straddle the world's busiest shipping lanes and are believed to be rich in oil, gas and fish. The dispute has long been considered one of Asia's potential flash points.

China, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also claim Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground off the Philippines' Zambales province.

In a statement, Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said his country has "sufficient legal basis and historical evidence" of ownership of the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal.

"All actions of stakeholders in the area without the consent of Vietnam are in violation of the sovereignty of Vietnam and have no legal value," he said.

He said Manila's action was a "serious breach" of Vietnam's sovereignty.

On Wednesday, China claimed it "has indisputable sovereignty" over the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal and that the Philippine claim to them "is illegal and invalid."

Philippine Foreign Affairs official Henry Bensurto said Manila passed the law not to press its claims over the disputed territories but to define the baseline used to determine the country's extended continental shelf.

The United Nations has asked the Philippines and other countries which signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to submit the dimensions of their claimed continental shelf by May 13. The convention, which came into force in 1994, defines the maritime limits of its signatories.

The battle for ownership of the Spratlys has settled into an uneasy standoff since fighting between China and Vietnam killed more than 70 Vietnamese sailors in 1988.

Meanwhile China has deployed a large fisheries patrol boat to a group of disputed islands in the South China Sea, a state newspaper said Sunday, a week after a US Navy vessel and Chinese ships had a confrontation in those waters.

The Beijing News said the vessel, China Yuzheng 311, would reach the Paracel Islands on Sunday to patrol China's exclusive economic zone and strengthen fishery administration in the South China Sea.

The ship, a converted Chinese naval rescue vessel, was deployed Tuesday from Guangzhou in southern China, it said. Calls to China's Fisheries Administration rang unanswered Sunday.

US defense officials have accused Chinese vessels of harassing an unarmed U.S. Navy sub-hunting ship last Sunday. China said the ship was operating illegally in its exclusive economic zone. Beijing views almost the entire South China Sea as its territory.

On Wednesday, China protested a new Philippine law affirming sovereignty over parts of the Spratly islands and Scarborough Shoal. It said it "has indisputable sovereignty" over the territories and the Philippine claim to them "is illegal and invalid."