South China Sea fishing restrictions for foreigners
Print Edition
In a broadening campaign to enforce its territorial claims, China says it is beefing up its police powers in the South China Sea and requiring foreign fishermen to ask Beijing’s permission to operate within most of the vast waterway.
The move, which took effect this month, comes on the heels of the late November announcement of an air defense zone requiring foreign planes to notify Beijing of flights over a huge swath of the East China Sea, where China is locked in a bitter territorial dispute with Japan.
The affected waters account for 2 million of the South China Sea’s 3.5 million square kilometers.
The new rules demand that foreign vessels seek permission to fish or survey within waters administered by Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, which looks out over the South China Sea.
Raul Hernandez, a spokesman for the Philippine foreign affairs department, said yesterday that diplomats were seeking more information on the new South China Sea rules.
Authorities in the provincial city of Sansha, on an island far south of Hainan, held a joint drill on January 1 involving 14 ships and 190 personnel from various border patrol and law enforcement agencies.
China News Service quoted law enforcement official Wang Shizhen as saying “rampant infringement by foreign fishing vessels” was among the activities targeted in the scenarios.
Passed by Hainan’s provincial legislature in late November, the new rules say only that permission must be obtained from unnamed “relevant departments” under China’s State Council.
Chinese law allows for the confiscation of catches and fishing equipment and fines of up to 500,000 yuan (US$83,000) for violators.
While it would be nearly impossible to enforce the rule over such a vast area, the requirement seems to emphasize China’s determination to compel foreign nations to take its sovereignty claims seriously.
China set up the Sansha city administration in 2012 to administer the scattered, lightly populated region of island groups and reefs.
China has also combined its civilian maritime agencies into a single coast guard to increase effectiveness, and has even cracked down on activity in the area by foreign maritime archeologists.
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