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“THE SPRATLY ISLANDS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S7386-S7387 on May 24, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE SPRATLY ISLANDS
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, while the dispute surrounding the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea has seemingly disappeared from our domestic press, I would like my colleagues to know that--
unfortunately--it has not been resolved. On the contrary, the frequency and tenor of the hostile rhetoric and minor tiffs between the concerned parties have increased since I last spoke about the issue on the floor on March 30 of this year. This is reflected in the Asian media, and I would like to share here a small representative sampling of those reports from just the last 2 weeks with my colleagues to keep them abreast of the most recent developments. I ask unanimous consent. That several editorials be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Military To ``Firmly'' Defend Territorial Waters
Hanoi VNA, May 7.--Defending firmly the territorial waters and islands in the East Sea [South China Sea] is an important part in Vietnam's strategic task of safeguarding its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, said an article in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army) daily on Friday [5 May].
The article, run in anticipation of the 40th foundation day of the Vietnam People's Navy (May 7), praised the Navy's feats of arms in the two resistance wars against foreign invaders. Over the past 40 years, the Vietnamese Navy made a big contribution to the struggle for national independence and freedom, particularly in the fight against the enemy's air raids and harbour blockade in the north. The Navy was assigned to set up a `Ho Chi Minh Trail on the sea' to transport military supplies to liberation fighters in the south and actively engaged in the spring 1975 general offensive which liberated the entire South Vietnam including Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands.
Vietnam has a coastal line of 3,260 km. It has one million sq. Km of sea under its jurisdiction including two archipelagoes Hoang Sa, Parag Sa (Spratly) and a great number of other islands. Endowed with rich oil and other natural resources, Vietnam is expected to tap 7.7 million tonnes of crude oil this year and about 20-25 million tonnes by the year 2000.
Regarding the East Sea issue, during his talks in Seoul last month with South Korean president, party General Secretary Do Muoi said Truong Sa and Hoang Sa belong to Vietnam, and it wants to resolve the disputes through peaceful negotiations on the basis of equality, mutual respect and in line with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. He expressed his wish that joint efforts should be made to build Asia-the Pacific into a region of peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity.
For his part, President Le Duc Anh in a recent message to the inhabitants and soldiers on Truong Sa on the occasion of the 20th liberation day of the archipelago stressed that it is the country's sacred territory.
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Trip Is ``Serious Infringement''
Beijing, May 16, (XINHUA)--Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang issued a statement here today.
Shen Guofang said: Plotted and organized by the Philippine military, a formation of two Philippine warships and one pleasure-boat carrying Filipino and foreign reporters sailed to Meiji Reef of our country's Nansha Islands [Spratly Islands] on 13 May to engage in so-called ``news-gathering'' activities. Prior to that, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines had made stern representations on several occasions to the Philippine side, in which they demanded the latter to call off this provocative act. The Philippine side, however, disregarded the Chinese Government's stern warning and was bent on having its own way. This was a serious infringement of China's sovereignty. The Chinese Government has lodged a strong protest with the Philippine Government over this matter.
He said: We advise the Philippine side not to misinterpret the Chinese side's restraint. The Philippine side had better return to the correct course of settling the relevant dispute through peaceful talks. If the Philippine side continues to act willfully and recklessly, it should be responsible for all consequences arising therefrom.
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``Reckless Moves'' Discouraged
Beijing, May 16 (XINHUA)--China repeated today its protest against the Philippines for an organized trip by the Philippine side to Nansha Islands [Spratly Islands] last week, asking it ``not to misunderstand China's restraint.''
On May 13, at the instigation of the Philippine military forces, two Philippine warships and another ship carrying Philippine and foreign reporters went to China's Meiji Reef in the Nansha Islands for a so-called ``interview'', according to a statement of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang issued here today.
Before that, Shen said, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy to the Philippines had made many solemn representations to the Philippine side, asking that country to cancel the provocative action.
However, the Philippine side, regardless of China's serious warning, still acted willfully, the spokesman said, adding that the action seriously encroached on China's * * *.
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Philippines', PRC Ships Face ``Standoff'' in Spratlys ``Standoff''
Lasts 70 Minutes
(``News Focus'' by Virgilio C. Galvez)
Off Mischief Reef, Spratly Islands, May 16 KYODO--Two Chinese ships faced off with two Philippine naval vessels Saturday [13 May] while journalists were being ferried by helicopters over a Chinese-held reef in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea.
The 70-minute standoff ended several minutes after the last of seven chopper sorties landed on the deck of the BRP Benguet, a landing ship which was carrying the first ever group of foreign and Filipino reporters to Mischief Reef, 250 kilometers west of Palawan Island in the western Philippines.
``You saw for yourself what they did . . . They crossed our bow. We were just doing our thing,'' Maj. Gen. Carlos Tanega, commander of Military Forces in western Philippines, told reporters.
``We were just launching and recovering helicopters . . . and here they are, sometimes blocking our way,'' Tanega pointed out.
On Monday, Beijing formally protested Manila's decision to allow foreign journalists to visit the disputed island Chain.
Apart from the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also claim all or portions of the Spratlys, which are believed to be rich in oil and other mineral deposits.
The media group, composed mostly of members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, left Manila on
[[Page S7387]] May 11 for Puerto Princesa, nearly 600 km southwest of the capital.
It returned Tuesday to Manila after observing special municipal elections held Sunday in Pag-Asa, the largest of seven Spratly islands held by the Philippines.
After two nights aboard a private cruise ship, the journalists reached Jackson Atoll, about 50 km northwest of Mischief Reef, where they transferred to the World War II vintage Benguet.
The first two sorties with 16 journalists on board Vietnam war-era Uhih choppers with ``press'' markings took off at about 11:15 AM when the landing ship was about 30 km off Mischief Reef.
Also on board was Tanega, the first Philippine officer to fly over the area since the Chinese built at least 14 structures on four platforms around the reef.
Manila has strongly condemned the Chinese occupation of the reef, which Filipino officials stress is well within the country's 200-km exclusive economic zone.
Beijing maintains that the reef is part of its territory and claims the structures are ``shelters for fishermen.''
Tanega pointed out the two Chinese ships raced back to the reef's lagoon after apparently seeing the choppers, journalists said.
But in the second wave of sorties, journalists saw the ships heading toward the Philippine naval ships which were about 24 km off the reef.
From the ship's foredeck, journalists saw the Chinese vessels, a small fast boat and a larger ship, assume blocking positions midway between the reef and the Philippine vessels.
At that point, about 16 km from the reef, the Benguet stopped to launch the fourth and fifth sorties.
``We stopped because . . . We knew this is the place where we could accomplish the mission in the best, expeditious and safest way,'' said Tanega at a press conference the next day.
As the Benguet was ``lying to,'' a naval term to mean that a ship has stopped without dropping anchor, its patrol escort, Miguel Malvar, maneuvered from starboard to a position to port.
Tanega said this was done to prevent the bigger Chinese ship from coming closer to the Benguet.
The smaller Chinese vessel moved to a position as close as 50 meters from the Benguet from where some its crew took photos and filmed the operations of the naval ship.
``The reaction was definitely expected because they did not know what we were doing,'' said Tanega.
``They did not know where the helicopters were taking off .
. . They could not surmise how a land-based helicopter could fly 208 km from the nearest land field,'' he pointed out.
Tanega said that while the Chinese vessel, whose Chinese markings identified it as belonging to Beijing's Bureau of Fisheries, was ``too close for comfort,'' he was not bothered by its presence.
As the choppers were secured on the deck of the Benguet, a Philippine Air Force reconnaissance plane radioed Tanega about the approach of ``two savage fishes.''
The plane was referring to Chinese frigates, which journalists learned were 24 km away and racing toward them.
Shortly after, at about 2:45 PM, Tanega ordered the Benguet and its escort ship to maneuver out of the area and proceed to Pag-Asa, some 18 hours away.
The two Chinese vessels made no attempt to stop the ships and stayed behind while the frigates, whose outlines could be seen on the horizon, appeared to stop.
``What is important here is we did what we had to do because this is our territory. We were eyeball to eyeball. We did not blink,'' said Tanega.
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PRC Stance on Media's Spratlys Tour Analyzed
(Editorial: ``Manila Scores Versus Beijing'')
Whatever substance to Beijing's claim that the Chinese structures on Mischief Reef are mere stations of Chinese fishermen has been shown spurious by the celebrated stand-off that took place last Saturday at the Kalayaan Islands. There, two Chinese warships suddenly appeared 15 nautical miles away in apparent support of Chinese vessels blocking a Philippine Navy ship carrying local and foreign journalists.
The inspection trip by our Navy would have been enough to impress upon independent journalists that the structures on Mischief Reef could not have been mere fishing stations by ubiquitous Chinese fishermen: the structures are made of metal with parabolic discs all around, giving credence to Manila's claim they could eventually become naval support facilities.
But the Chinese, not exactly known for subtlety, betrayed their own intentions; they themselves confirmed Manila's claim. Within minutes after Philippine Navy helicopters started their sorties of Mischief Reef last Saturday, two frigates from the Chinese navy raced to the sight in apparent aid of the Chinese ``fishermen''.
The trip has therefore accomplished Manila's objective of proving to the international community that the Chinese are undermining the status quo in the Kalayaan and unnecessarily causing tension there. By arranging for the coverage by foreign journalists, Manila has not only scored a public relations point against Beijing, it has also buttressed its territorial claim to the Kalayaan. As Acting Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon put it when he turned down Beijing's request that the tour be canceled, the foreign journalists who were coming along for the inspection should be an indication of how they perceived the ``sovereignty issue''.
By drawing international opinion to the issue, Manila has hit back at Beijing in the most capable way it could, making full use of the resources of democracy and unmasking in the process China's unneighborly designs in the region. It has billed the trip as a concession to freedom of the press and made it just an item in the larger itinerary of visiting the Filipino settlements in the Kalayaan in order to conduct the elections there. In one fell swoop, the Philippines has been able to demonstrate its democratic character contrast to the authoritarian regime in China as well as the fact that the Kalayaan is hers by virtue of the Filipino living there.
The rub is that the confrontation shows China's aggressiveness in pursuing its weak claim on Kalayaan. And with the Philippine military by all accounts standing eyeball to eyeball with the Chinese display of mi last Saturday--the Italian-made jets of the Philippine Air Force screamed overhead during the stand-off to warn theinese--, what has been drummed to the international community is the seriousness of the Kalayaan dispute. In such a t, hostilities in the islands could break out any time.
But the tension could be managed by forceful diplomacy and imaginative show of force against Beijing. Manila has been able to compel Washington to issue a statement which voiced United States' interest that ``freedom of maritime investigation'' shall be preserved in the South China Sea, a clear potshot at Beijing over its mischievous incursions. Manila now has to navigate through the contentious domestic dispute over some sort of a military logistical arrangement of the US in the aftermath of the pullout of the Americans from Subic and Clark. Asian capitals and some sectors in thilippine are loath to admit it but the key to controlling China and maintaining Asian security in the future is to America militarily engaged in the region.
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``Creative'' Policy on Spratlys Leads to Success
The decision to take on China on the Spratlys is the boldest foreign policy initiative ever taken by the Ramos administration. It is even more remarkable if we consider that he took a stand despite the military and economic weakness of the Philippines. That the Philippines forcefully challenged Chinese creeping expansion in the Spratlys was a shock to China, as well as a surprise to our ASEAN allies. They never expected the ``sick man of Asia'' to take on the Chinese giant on the question of territorial integrity. The diplomatic gamble paid off. It brought to the surface historic fears in Asia about the Chinese threat, which is more magnified by the modernization of its armed forces and its rapidly expanding economy.
President Ramos' gamble touched a raw nerve among Asians, and now many of our neighbors have dropped their reluctance to warn against the Chinese threat. The fear and anxieties over the Chinese move on the Spratlys are based on stronger grounds than sovereignty or who should exploit maritime resources supposed to lie underneath the atolls. The larger issue, as pointed out by Goh Chok Tong to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Peng, involves the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, over which China claims sovereignty based on antiquarian maps.
It was the Philippines' actions that proved to be the catalyst of the new-found solidarity among ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific nations, notably Japan and the United States, to forge a common stand in persuading China that it is in her interest to bring the dispute within the framework of multilateral negotiations. The Philippine action proves that tough diplomatic decisions can give us a position of strength if we get international support behind us. This is what we call creative diplomacy.
Mr. THOMAS. Let me say in closing, Mr. President, that I am pleased the State Department has finally issued a definitive U.S. position on the Spratlys, with which I heartily agree. I believe that the Foreign Relations Committee will take up Senate Resolution 97--a sense-of-the-
Senate resolution on the islands which I sponsored--in the near future and move it to the floor soon thereafter.
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