China fisheries law difficult to implement—Kalayaan mayor

MANILA, Philippines – The new fisheries law issued by the Hainan Provincial People’s Congress by China over the South China Sea will be difficult to implement, Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon said on Friday.

“That is difficult to implement because there are a lot of claimant countries and their islets are populated..especially in the Spratlys,” Bito-onon said in a phone interview.

Bito-onon, whose portion of jurisdiction is in the Spratlys, said other claimants over South China Sea, like Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan have their own airstrips, garrisons and ports.

“How would you restrict that, how about the freedom of navigation, most especially to fishermen? That is international waters,” he said.

Effective January 1, foreign fishing vessels are subject to approval to enter waters under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government. It also previously imposed an air defense zone.

The Philippines calls its area within the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea. China claims nearly the entire South China Sea. It also patrols in areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines had sought for arbitration under the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea to pursue its claims in the West Philippine Sea. It filed a diplomatic protest as Chinese ships continued to come and go into the resource-rich areas of Panatag  and Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), which were both within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, had asked China to clarify its new fisheries law.

“This development escalates tensions, unnecessarily complicates the situation in the South China Sea, and threatens the peace and stability of the region.  This new law reinforces China’s expansive claim under the 9-dash line. It is a gross violation of international law, particularly UNCLOS, and is contrary to the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” it said in a statement.

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