US: Palawan may be target of Chinese navy

WASHINGTON – China may target Palawan for a military attack to punish the Philippines for challenging its maritime claims in the South China Sea, Richard Fisher Jr., a US think tank military affairs analyst, said.

He said the presence of the Chinese frigate Dongguan which ran aground last month near disputed Half Moon Shoal off Palawan, and the five or six Chinese ships that sailed to its aid were believed to be part of stepped-up efforts to enforce what Beijing calls its “Nine-dash Line” that outlines almost all of the South China Sea, which it claims as sovereign waters.

Fisher, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, was quoted extensively by Washington Times columnist Bill Gertz on Thursday.

Accompanying Gertz’s article was what he said was the first photo of Dongguan taken by a Filipino military photographer during a flight over the disputed Half Moon Shoal that both Beijing and Manila claim as their maritime territory. The shoal sits astride a key strategic waterway about 70 miles from the Philippine island province of Palawan.

Gertz quoted a Philippine official as saying the photo showed “the bully that ran aground.”

Fisher said the Dongguan recently was upgraded with YJ-83 anti-ship cruise missiles, which have a range of 155 miles. It also has a new stealthy, infrared-suppressing exhaust stack.

Philippine officials do not know why the Chinese warship sailed so close to Half Moon Shoal and ended up stuck in the sand, Gertz said. But some believe its presence is part of stepped-up efforts to enforce Beijing’s “Nine-dash Line.”

Another theory is that the Chinese sought to survey the region ahead of an expected Philippines-sponsored, oil-prospecting venture that will begin this year or early next year.

“The fact that several ships were in the vicinity of Half Moon Shoal able to render assistance to the Dongguan is a testament to the overall increased Chinese naval presence in this region, but also a testament to the (People’s Liberation Army’s) command and control capabilities,” Fisher said.

“While the grounding was a major embarrassment for China that provided a perhaps unintended military reinforcement to its diplomatic bullying at (a recent regional) summit, this incident also served to highlight the increasing strategic importance of Palawan,” he said.

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Jose Katigbak Star  | The Philippine Star | August 11,2012 | Article Link

Military monitors Chinese activities at Panatag Shoal

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine authorities are not discounting the possibility that the continued Chinese presence at the Panatag Shoal could be a prelude to putting up markers or structures to boost China’s claim over the area, sources in the military said Thursday.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because a gag order has been in effect on defense and military officials, who are barred from providing media with updates on the standoff that began April 10 in the shoal standoff.

“We will wake up one day and see markers or small structures already planted inside or outside the lagoon to boost their claim of the maritime area. That’s why we’re closely monitoring their activities. We’ve two ships there but they might not detect all the time the activities of the Chinese especially during night,” a ranking military official said.

As of Wednesday morning, there were seven Chinese maritime surveillance vessels and eight fishing vessels in the shoal. “The seven vessels are merchant ships, the FLEC and CMS that we’re earlier reporting. This plus the fishing vessels, China has a total of 15 vessels at the shoal at present,” another official said. China has sent up to 90 vessels to the shoal in the past weeks.

For its part, the Philippines has deployed only two vessels, one from the Coast Guard and one from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

The standoff started on April 10 when the BRP Gregorio del Pilar was blocked by two Chinese maritime surveillance vessels to prevent it from arresting Chinese fishermen on board 8 fishing vessels who illegally harvested giant clams, corals and different kinds of endangered marine resources in the area.

Since then, China sent more vessels on rotation basis to boost its claim over the shoal which is well within the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines. China, however, calls the area Huangyan Island, which is more than 800 nautical miles from its nearest shore.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin is expected to give more details about his bilateral meeting with China Defense Minister Liang Guanglie in Cambodia.

Earlier, Gazmin said China is open to dialogue to defuse the tension at the Panatag Shoal.

Panatag now, Recto Bank next?

Meanwhile, a Navy official said China is using Panatag as a test case for its bigger claims in the whole stretch of South China Sea. “If they will be successful at Panatag, then they have all the reasons to claim Recto (Reed) Bank which is their main target.

The reef’s underground has lots of oil,” he said. The reef is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, which also includes the 7 islets and two reefs found inside the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) municipality of Palawan located in the West Philippine Sea.

Besides the Philippines and China, other claimant nations are Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.

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Jaime Sinapit | InterAksyon.com | May 31, 2012 | Article Link