Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BEIJING579
2009-03-05 09:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

PRC: COW'S TONGUE CLAIM NOT LICKED, DESPITE

Tags:  PBTS PHSA PREL PGOV ECON CH TW XC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0385
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #0579/01 0640955
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 050955Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2709
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000579 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2029
TAGS: PBTS PHSA PREL PGOV ECON CH TW XC
SUBJECT: PRC: COW'S TONGUE CLAIM NOT LICKED, DESPITE
OBJECTIONS FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND VIETNAM

REF: A. MANILA 428

B. 08 BEIJING 924

C. 08 BEIJING 3499

D. HANOI 52

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 000579

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2029
TAGS: PBTS PHSA PREL PGOV ECON CH TW XC
SUBJECT: PRC: COW'S TONGUE CLAIM NOT LICKED, DESPITE
OBJECTIONS FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND VIETNAM

REF: A. MANILA 428

B. 08 BEIJING 924

C. 08 BEIJING 3499

D. HANOI 52

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.
4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) China expects the South China Sea (SCS) sovereignty
dispute arising from a maritime baselines bill recently
passed in the Philippines Congress will not ratchet up
tension in the region and will not affect China's SCS claim,
according to an MFA official. China will continue its
"shelve differences, mutual development" approach in the SCS.
Pointing to two U.S. oil companies China has approached to
cease their Vietnam-based activities, the MFA official urged
the United States to encourage U.S. companies not to conduct
business in disputed areas. Philippines Embassy contacts
expressed concern that Chinese protests on the Philippines'
baselines bill represent a hardening of China's position on
the SCS. Vietnam Embassy contacts said China's pressure on
U.S. oil firms working in Vietnam demonstrates a "dangerous
direction" in China's approach to the SCS. Both the
Philippines and Vietnam Embassy contacts expressed concern
that developing U.S.-China ties could lead to U.S.
acquiescence to Chinese naval dominance in the SCS. End
Summary.


2. (C) MFA Asian Affairs Department Policy Planning Division
Deputy Director Yin Haihong told PolOff March 3 that China
had protested recent actions by the Philippines' Congress to
claim sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly
Islands, a move related to the Philippines' submission of
baseline claims to the Commission on the Limits of the
Continental Shelf (CLCS) prior to the May 13 UN Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) deadline. Deputy Director Yin
said China believed the UNCLOS articles on determining
extended continental shelf claims prohibit states from
submitting claims on territory under dispute.

Philippines' Action Will Not Affect Cow's Tongue

-------------- ---


3. (C) Noting no change in China's "indisputable" claims in
the South China Sea (outlined by the "Nine-Dash Line" or
"Cow's Tongue," refs B and C),Deputy Director Yin suggested
that China's protest to the Philippines and the likely
rejection by the CLCS of the Philippines' "invalid claim"
would help resolve the issue to China's satisfaction. "No
increased tension" in the region would result from the
current dispute, she predicted. She said China would
continue its "shelve differences, mutual development"
approach in the SCS. Asked whether China planned to make a
submission to CLCS, MFA Treaty and Law Department Oceans and
Law of the Sea Division Director Yang Li told PolOff March 4
that China was "studying" the CLCS submission issue.


4. (C) Touching on fishing area disputes in the SCS, Deputy
Director Yin said fishing boat seizures among the claimant
countries occurred regularly "but not often" because of the
understandable difficulty fishermen face in identifying
maritime boundaries at sea. She said local authorities
usually resolved these incidents without assistance from the
central government. On the possibility of extending
China-Vietnam coordinated naval patrol arrangements in the
Gulf of Tonkin, Deputy Director Yan said such a move was
possible, but the two sides had held no serious discussions
on the topic to date.

DOC: A Positive Influence in the SCS
--------------


5. (C) While affirming that China preferred to address SCS
issues bilaterally, Deputy Director Yin noted that the 2002
ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of Parties in
the South China Sea had helped keep tensions down in the
region. She said China and ASEAN members had held
preliminary talks on follow-up to the DOC, though she did not
confirm whether China was seeking a stronger agreement.

MFA: Two U.S. Oil Companies Should Stop VN Activity
-------------- --------------


6. (C) Deputy Director Yin again raised the case of two
Texas-based oil exploration companies, Hunt Oil (ref B) and
another unidentified company (note: possibly Pogo Producing
Company). She said though the Chinese government had

BEIJING 00000579 002 OF 003


approached the two companies through the Chinese Consulate
General in Houston, to date, China had been unable to confirm
whether the two companies had ceased petrochemical
exploration activities. Deputy Director Yin asked for U.S.
assistance in encouraging U.S. oil companies not to become
get involved in areas under dispute. PolOff affirmed that
while the United States took no position on competing
territorial claims and encouraged the parties involved to
resolve these issues peacefully, the United States opposed
pressure on U.S. firms seeking to conduct legitimate business
activities in the SCS.

Philippines: Feeling Pressure from China
--------------


7. (C) Philippines Embassy Minister Maria Hellen M. Barber
(strictly protect) told PolMinCouns February 25 that PRC
official protests against the Philippines' baseline bill had
raised concerns that China was hardening its policy on the
South China Sea. "We had never been nudged before like
that," Barber said, noting that in a February 18 summons
meeting, VFM Wang Guangya reiterated the PRC position on the
South China Sea, rejecting any Philippines' claim to the
Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal (in Chinese, Nansha
Islands and Huangyan Island, respectively),requesting that
the Philippines government take action to prevent enactment
of the legislation, and reserving "the right of China to take
action."


8. (C) Barber explained that in enacting the recent
legislation (currently pending presidential signature),the
Philippines had taken into account the sensitivities of
neighboring countries, the UNCLOS deadline and the DOC. More
specifically, as a concession to PRC concerns, the bill
defined the Spratly Islands as a "regime of islands" separate
from the Philippines archipelago, and the Philippines had
decided not to define baselines in that territory (though it
reserved the right to do so later). Barber said that
Scarborough Shoal fell within the Philippines' Exclusive
Economic Zone and effectively was under the control of the
Philippines, adding that in the past Scarborough Shoal had
been regularly used for target practice by both the U.S. and
Philippines militaries operating out of Subic Bay.


9. (C) Barber said the Philippines legislative action was
"technical" in nature and did not represent a change in the
Philippines' position on the South China Sea, adding that the
Philippines government had no plans to "fortify" any of the
islands it claimed. Given that the Philippines believed it
had already made concessions to China on this issue, Barber
said, President Arroyo would likely sign the bill despite PRC
protestations.

Vietnam: PRC Claims Still Unacceptable
--------------


10. (C) Embassy of Vietnam Political Counselor Dang Minh Khoi
(strictly protect) predicted to PolOff March 3 that Vietnam
would likely make a CLCS submission before the May 13
deadline, though he added that the Vietnamese Embassy in
Beijing had not been included in internal GVN discussions of
the issue. He predicted Chinese opposition to a Vietnamese
continental shelf claim, saying that in 2007-2008, PLA Navy
vessels had harassed Russian and Norwegian vessels contracted
by the GVN to explore Vietnam's continental shelf for the
purposes of the CLCS submission.


11. (C) Khoi reiterated Vietnam's view that China's "Cow's
Tongue" claim was "unacceptable" and that China should
respect UNCLOS and the DOC. In contrast to MFA Yin's
positive assessment of the situation in the SCS, Khoi said
China had embarked on "a dangerous direction" in the South
China Sea, citing recent instances of pressure on U.S.
companies to halt hydrocarbon exploration activities in
Vietnam (ref D). Though senior leaders from both sides
understood the sensitive nature of the SCS issue and sought
to resolve emerging conflicts peacefully, "a big difference"
existed between the two countries over their respective SCS
claims. Vietnam was "determined to protect its territory,"
including claims to the continental shelf made under UNCLOS,
Khoi said. Addressing the SCS issue properly was key to the
success of the China-Vietnam bilateral relationship, he
added.

Division of Labor between PRC and U.S. in SCS?
-------------- -


12. (C) Separately, both Barber and Khoi asked whether the
SCS was on the agenda of the February 27-28 U.S.-China
Defense Policy Coordination Talks (DPCTs) and expressed

BEIJING 00000579 003 OF 003


concern that under the pretext of making China "an equal
partner," the United States would acquiesce to a PRC
assertion of primacy in the South China Sea. Khoi said that
Vietnam was watching U.S. reactions to the current dispute
between China and Japan over the Senkaku islands,
underscoring that the manner in which the dispute was
resolved would have implications for Chinese behavior in the
SCS.


13. (C) PolMinCouns told Barber, and PolOff separately
repeated to Khoi, that the U.S. position on the SCS had not
changed: the United States does not take a position on the
various claims of sovereignty or jurisdiction in the South
China Sea, urges claimants to solve differences peacefully
and maintains a strong interest in freedom of navigation.
PICCUTA