Beijing defends land reclamation in South China Sea 

A Chinese flag flies from one of the two newly-finished concrete structures on the Mischief Reef off the disputed Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea

Defying a U.S. call to halt the project, China defended its land reclamation in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea yesterday, saying the work is for public service use, although a London-based security group says the new island could host a military airfield to intimidate neighbors.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the construction on some reefs in the archipelago was to enable Chinese citizens working there to “better perform international obligations in terms of search, rescue and other public services.”
In a recent report, IHS Jane’s said satellite images taken in August and November showed that Chinese dredgers had created a land mass almost the entire length of Fiery Cross Reef, which was previously under water. The security group said it is China’s largest construction project in the island chain.
IHS Jane’s said the new island — at least 3,000 meters long — could be China’s first military airstrip in the Spratly Islands and might be aimed at helping Beijing impose its sovereignty claims over neighboring countries that also claim the territory.
“This facility appears purpose-built to coerce other claimants into relinquishing their claims and possessions, or at least provide China with a much stronger negotiating position if talks over the dispute were ever held,” the report said.
Tensions have been rising as Beijing has grown more assertive about its claim over the resource-rich South China Sea, which is also crisscrossed by shipping routes. Its deployment of an oil rig near the Paracel Islands triggered a bitter standoff with Vietnam, where a wave of anti-China riots broke out in May, killing at least one Chinese worker.
In August, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed that all countries with competing claims halt any provocative actions, such as land reclamation, but China rejected the suggestion and said the tensions were being overblown.
Over the weekend, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool urged China to cease the land reclamation project and engage in diplomatic talks.
Hua told a regular news briefing yesterday that no country has “a right to make irresponsible remarks” about the reclamation.
She said China has “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
Hua said China has insisted that maritime disputes be resolved peacefully and through negotiations. AP

philippine court convicts 9 chinese of poaching

A Philippine court convicted nine Chinese fishermen yesterday of poaching and taking hundreds of endangered giant sea turtles from a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, fining each of them nearly USD103,000 but imposing no jail term.
The fishermen were arrested in May at Half Moon Shoal and their boat and catch of 555 endangered sea turtles were seized. The arrests sparked another spat between the Asian neighbors in the increasingly volatile South China Sea.
Judge Ambrosio de Luna of the regional trial court in western Palawan province found them guilty of violating the country’s fisheries code, ordering them to pay a fine of $100,000 each for poaching in Philippine waters plus 120,000 pesos ($2,666) each for taking wildlife, said Attorney Hazel Alaska, the clerk of court.
Alaska said de Luna could have imposed a jail term of up to 20 years for the taking of threatened or endangered species but decided to impose only a fine. In case the fishermen fail to pay the fine, they will have to serve a maximum of six months in jail for each of the two cases, or a total of one year.