China plans to turn Spratlys into tourist destination

Pag-asa Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the West Philippine Sea. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A city in southern China plans to extend a tourism route to the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea).

Chinese state media reported this weekend that Sanya City, a famed tourist destination in the Southern Chinese province of Hainan, is planning to include the island chains of Zhongsha and Nansha (the Spratlys) on a cruise route under a 10-year tourism development plan.

The report by the state news agency Xinhua published in the national English-language  newspaper China Daily said the planned route extends the luxury cruise lane now being tested to the Xisha Islands, one of the major island groups in the West Philippine Sea, the name the Philippine government uses for the South China Sea.

Quoting local officials, Xinhua said the 2012-2022 Sanya City tourism plan “has passed the expert panel’s evaluation and is waiting to be endorsed by the provincial authorities” in Hainan.

Earlier this year, Sanya City tourism officials tested a cruise to Yongxing, the main island in the Xisha chain.  The island chain is expected to be opened to tourists within the year.

According to the latest announcement, the 10-year tourism development plan looks at including two other  island chains, Zhongsha and Spratlys, on the cruise lane.

China claims all of the Spratlys, conflicting with the partial claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Asked for comment, spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Department of Foreign Affairs still did not have complete information on the plan.

Earlier this year, China established Sansha City to administer these three island groups in the disputed waters.  The Philippines protested the move, asserting its claim to part of the Spratlys.

Sanya City’s announcement came just shortly after Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said that “freedom and safety of navigation in the South China Sea is assured.”

The DFA took this “with guarded optimism,” saying China should clarify whether it was asserting ownership over all of the Spratlys or expressing respect for international law.

The Philippines also reiterated that China’s claim to the Spratlys was “excessive.”

“No State can arrogate unto itself the unilateral right to determine or assure the existence or non-existence of the freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea. Rather the freedom of navigation is an established right that commands respect from everybody as a matter of international obligation,” the DFA said in a statement Thursday night.