Concern raised over China's permission toward its Coast Guard' rights to use arm force

The fact that China intending to allow its Coard Guard to use arm force in the claimed waters causes serious concern not only for countries in the region but also for countries who jointly exploit the Bien Dong Sea and the East China Sea.
November 18, 2020 | 22:08
chinas coast guard bill a hot topic at south china sea bien dong sea international conference China's Coast Guard bill, a hot topic at South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea) International Conference
japan coast guard chinese vessels sail near disputed islands in east china sea Japan coast guard: Chinese vessels sail near disputed islands in East China Sea
the us coast guard releases new plan to combat illegal fishing focusing on fishing boats from china The U.S. Coast Guard releases new plan to combat illegal fishing, focusing on fishing boats from China
Concern raised over China's permission toward its Coast Guard' rights to use arm force
China's Coast Guard on the Bien Dong Sea. (Photo: SCMP)

"This is China's internal issue"?

During the second working day of the South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea) International Conference, the speakers took the time to discuss risk management, prevention of maritime clashes, and cooperation in oceanic resource protection.

In the framework of the conference, the speakers mentioned the fact that in recent times there have been many unexpected clashes happened between law enforcement forces of neighboring countries, especially in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of coastal countries. Some activities of marine scientific research and resource exploitation that some countries conduct in their own waters are often disturbed.

The risk of a marine clash in the coming time is increasing due to rising competition between powers. Therefore, the scholars gave out recommendations to avoid conflicts, which were strictly complying with UNCLOS 1982, joining international treaties and agreements to reduce marine risks…

Since 2016, China and ASEAN have issued a joint statement on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES). However, CUES is still a voluntary code and only applies to naval forces. Therefore, an Australian scholar proposed to expand the scope of CUES to both marine police and civil law enforcement forces at sea.

Concern raised over China's permission toward its Coast Guard' rights to use arm force
South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea) International Conference. (Photo: The World and Vietnam)

Another hot issue discussed in the conference on the topic of avoidance of sea clashes was China's Coast Guard bill, which may include provisions allowing Chinese law enforcement forces to use weapons in the regions under China's claims.

This bill has been causing serious concern not only for regional countries but also for countries that exploit the Bien Dong Sea and the East China Sea because the implementation of the bill will threaten the lives and property of other countries' fishermen, obstructing the freedom of navigation in the Bien Dong Sea area.

Although the Chinese scholar participating in the seminar explained that the bill was an internal issue of China and China had always pursued a traditional policy of friendship with neighboring countries in the issue of Bien Dong Sea, many Indian, Japanese, and Southeast Asian scholars continued to express concerns over the bill, as China did not clarify the area of the water where the bill would be applied, as well as the criteria under which its Coast Guard was allowed to use arm force.

Although some coastal countries allow their Coast Guard to use weapons in certain situations, China's bill poses concern because of its aggressive behavior towards other nations' fishermen and ships over the past time.

Concern raised over China's permission toward its Coast Guard' rights to use arm force
Cooperation in marine environmental protection could reduce tension and contribute to trust building process. (Photo: Reuters)

Cooperation in marine environmental protection could reduce tensions and contribute to trust building process

When discussing the issues of fishing, marine environment protection, marine scientific research, and sustainable marine economic development, the scholars agreed that these areas needed attention from countries due to their potential for cooperation. These areas show the goodwill of other countries to reduce tensions and contribute to the process of trust building in the region.

At the same time, cooperation in these fields also contributes to meeting the joint interests of people in the region in terms of environmental protection, and sustainable development. However, when it comes to promote cooperation in all fields, as mentioned above, scholars said that they encountered difficulties when proposing projects in the field, and at the same time, numerous sensitive factors arose in the cooperation process such as geographical location, organizational mechanism, finance, and human resources ...

In addition, a number of ASEAN partner countries have recently proposed ideas and initiatives on cooperation "blue economy" with ASEAN, so it is difficult to avoid overlapping and complications among these initiatives. Delegates proposed to seek measures to synchronize these initiatives, including building multilateral maritime cooperation mechanisms within ASEAN and between ASEAN and partner countries to promote maritime cooperation.

japans mitsui malaysias t7 sign deal to supply naval vessels to vietnam Japan's Mitsui, Malaysia's T7 sign deal to supply naval vessels to Vietnam

Malaysia's T7 Global Berhad and Japan's Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding have agreed to cooperate on supplying ships for the Vietnam Coast Guard & Vietnam People's ...

vietnam demands answers from malaysia about fishermans killing in bien dong sea Vietnam demands answers from Malaysia about fisherman's killing in Bien Dong Sea

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam has requested that Malaysia's side investigate a recent confrontation between its coast guard and two Vietnamese fishing boats ...

following 348 million agreement japan to built six patrol boats for vietnam Following $348 million agreement, Japan to built six patrol boats for Vietnam

Under an agreement that worth some US$348 million, Japan will build six patrol vessels for Vietnam to help the latter increase maritime security and safety ...

Valerie Mai
Phiên bản di động