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Thursday, 5 June 2014

China rejects arbitration tribunal South China Sea ruling ; History backs China in sea disputes

China on Wednesday rejected a Hague-based arbitration tribunal's ruling giving it six months to respond to a legal claim by the Philippines over disputed waters in the South China Sea.

China's stance of not accepting or participating in the arbitration proceedings filed by the Philippines has not changed, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

The response came after the tribunal of The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands, issued a statement on Tuesday, which requires China to submit evidence to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea before December 15.

The tribunal cited an obligation to assure "each party a full opportunity to be heard and to present its case," according to a Tuesday statement.

The Philippines in March filed a memorandum to the international arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), questioning the validity of China's "nine-dash" territorial claim.

However, experts said that without a bilateral agreement, the UNCLOS has no jurisdiction to interfere in sovereignty issues, which made China's stance reasonable and lawful.

"The international arbitration procedure must be agreed by both parties. If China rejects participating, the arbitration will not work," Ji Qiufeng, a professor of international relations with Nanjing University, told the Global Times.

Ji noted that the international tribunal is most likely to withdraw the Philippines' case.

"It will be a wise decision for the international tribunal as it lacks power to enforce. Even if the tribunal makes a judgment by default, China will not accept its verdict," Ji said. "The tribunal may lose its credibility."

The United States has said it supports the Philippines' arbitration case, which is closely watched by other claimant countries including Vietnam, which said last month it was considering legal action against China after a Chinese oil rig started to operate in waters near the Xisha Islands that Hanoi claims as it territory.

Ji pointed out that Vietnam's legal threat is very likely to depend on the result of the Philippines' case. "As China stands firm against the Manila plea, Hanoi should be aware that the threats would prove in vain."

- By Hu Qingyun Source:Global Times Published: 2014-6-5 0:43:01

History backs China in sea disputes

China has been criticized by some countries for making "ambiguous" claims on the islands, islets, reefs and waters in the South China Sea. For example, it has been criticized for "failing to honor" the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea despite being a signatory to it, as well as for "violating" other international laws on the sea.

A few international observers also accuse China of deliberately obscuring its territorial claims in the South China Sea by using terms not found in the UNCLOS, such as "adjacent waters" and "relevant waters". And some countries keep demanding that China "clarify" its nine-dash line map.

The fact is that, if these countries do not change their mindset and attitude, the nine-dash line will continue to be vague for them irrespective of how clearly China defines it.

China has an unequivocal and consistent territorial claim on the islands and other land features in the South China Sea. As a matter of fact, it has unequivocally stated its claim in three official documents: the 1947 Location Map of the South China Sea Islands released by the Kuomingtang government in Nanjing, the 1958 Declaration of the Government of New China on the Territorial Sea and the 1992 Law on Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone. These documents state that the Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands, Nansha Islands and other islands are part of the sovereign territory of China.

Some countries view China's maritime claim in the South China Sea as ambiguous because of certain historical reasons. The first reason is that the UNCLOS does not properly address the issue of historic rights. Despite the reference to historic title in Articles 15 and 298(1)(a), the provision on historic bays in Article 15(6), and the recognition of traditional fishing rights in Article 51, it does not have any provision for the definition of historic rights or their specific connotation and denotation.

The second is that no consistent understanding has been reached in international law on historic rights. For example, Yehuda Z. Blum, an Israeli professor of law and diplomat, has observed: The term "historic rights" denotes the possession by a state, over certain land or maritime areas, of rights that would not normally accrue to it under the general rules of international law, such rights having been acquired by that state through a process of historical consolidation ... Historic rights are a product of a lengthy process comprising a long series of acts, omissions and patterns of behavior which, in their entirety, and through their cumulative effect, bring such rights into being and consolidate them into rights valid in international law.

Besides, a state acquires historic rights through effective exercise of these rights (long series of acts, omissions and patterns of behavior) by one or more states, a practice followed by relevant states. The concept of historic rights is almost equivalent to that of historic water.

In this vein, Leo Bouchez, a renowned international law professor, says the concept of "historic rights" has evolved from the concept of "historic water" and "historic bays". The development from "historic bays" to "historic water" and from "historic title" to "historic rights" indicates the evolution of legal concepts with the development of state practice, and that such concepts have not been finalized.

From the point of view of China, one of the world's oldest civilizations, the South China Sea is part of the traditional Asian order and, hence, it would be inappropriate to comprehend the nine-dash line by relying solely on the Westphalian nation-state system.

As Keyuan Zou, Harris professor of International Law at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, has observed, the South China Sea nine-dash line map was officially released by the Chinese Kuomingtang government half a century before the UNCLOS, and one decade before the 1958 Four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea. Thus, China's historic rights within the nine-dash line cannot be ignored. The nine-dash line drawn by the Chinese government in 1947, at approximately the median position between China's South China Sea islands and reefs and the coastlines of bordering states, reflects the scope of China's claims. The consistency of the claims has been maintained by China after 1949, and the claims have been recognized or acquiesced to by bordering states over a long period of time. Therefore, the nine-dash line has probative force and weight under international law.

The so-called ambiguity in China's nine-dash line map and its claim on the waters within that line mainly stems from the imperfection of the UNCLOS. To some extent, international law on historic rights is defective in theory and doctrine and lacks a unified standard.

China has been striving to clarify its claim in the South China Sea. But the joint efforts of the international community are also needed to complement and improve the UNCLOS by agreeing to a new international convention or protocol in order to clarify the understanding of historic rights.

The author is deputy director of Maritime Security Institute at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai. The views expressed are personal. His most recent book is Legal Interpretation of China's South China Sea Map: An Inclusive Approach to Ocean Public Order.

- By Zheng Zhihua (China Daily)

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Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Foreign tech firms pose threat on Internet; World's largest Internet hacker

Companies asked by Washington to use online services to spy on customers

Foreign technology services providers such as Google and Apple can become cybersecurity threats to Chinese users, security analysts said, one week after China announced that it will put in place a security review on imported technology equipment.

Other major tech companies, such as Yahoo, Cisco, Microsoft and Facebook, were required by the US National Security Agency to transfer their users' information, according to Wan Tao, founder of Intelligence Defense Friends Laboratory, an independent institution focusing on cybersecurity in China.

Wan said that online services have become a major way for the US to steal information globally.

Foreign tech firms pose threat on Internet
Foreign tech firms pose threat on Internet
Ning Jiajun, a senior researcher at the Advisory Committee for State Informatization, said, "Previously, the US asked companies to install wiretapping software on their technological products, but if users found and shut down related functions, its 'plan' would fail," he said.

For instance, information on a Chinese organization can be stolen when it places an order on an international shopping website, he said.

With technologies such as cloud computing and big data getting popular, information can be collected and analyzed immediately, which means the damage can be much greater and more difficult to prevent, analysts said.

"It can be said that those who master online services can get more information in cyberspace," said Du Yuejin, director at the National Engineering Laboratory for Cyber Security Emergency Response Technology.

Last month, China's Internet Media Research Center issued a report saying the NSA makes use of large technology companies for its wiretapping plans, including Prism, which was unmasked by former NSA intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, asking them to collect information on their users and urging them to hand in the data regularly.

The report also said that the NSA has taken iOS and Android, two leading mobile operating systems applied to iPhone and Samsung, as the "gold mine" of data.

The NSA grabbed users' information and stored most of it for analysis by invading database and communication networks of Yahoo and Google, while it has also controlled applications on smartphones with Britain, said the report released at the end of May.

"The US, in fact, could get these users' information or conduct the wiretapping by attacking the network instead of 'cooperating' with the enterprises, but it might take more time and money," said Wan.

The actions of the NSA have put huge pressure on US technology companies, as customers from Paris to Sao Paulo and from Beijing to Berlin worry about their privacy being invaded.

US President Barack Obama held two discussions with CEOs of major US technology companies in the past six months about the NSA snooping, which led to a "reform" of the NSA to focus on protecting US citizens' privacy, but with little improvement on foreign organizations and citizens.

In May, John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, wrote a letter to Obama urging Washington to stop using the company for surveillance of its customers, according to an Al Jazeera report.

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- Contributed By CAO YIN (China Daily)

World's largest Internet hacker

The spying actions of the US have underscored the urgency of formulating common rules for activities in cyberspace

Last month, the United States Attorney-General Eric Holder announced the indictments of five Chinese military personnel on cyber espionage charges, accusing them of hacking into US companies in the nuclear power, metals and solar products industries. This has seriously compromised relations with China and sabotaged the bilateral cybersecurity cooperation that had been put back onto a normal track after overcoming setbacks.

With the indictments, the US has tried to present itself as the largest victim of cyberattacks, when in fact it is the Cold War mentality and troublemaking of the US that have precipitated the instability and insecurity in cyberspace. If the US doesn't change its behavior, all peoples in the world may become victims of Internet insecurity.

In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a former US National Security Bureau contractor, revealed US intelligence agencies were conducting large-scale network spy programs, such as PRISM, Xkeyscore and others, across the world. His disclosures indicated the omnipotence of the US' Internet surveillance and cyberattacks, which range from spying on communication metadata and backbone networks to the monitoring of short message services, instant messaging and video chats; from spying on ordinary people to spying on enterprises, universities, military units and even heads of state, not to mention the revelations about the US' cyber warfare capabilities.

Aside from its cyber command that has been rapidly growing, the US' marine, land and air forces have also set up their own cyber headquarters. Cyber combat capabilities are already regarded as part of the weaponry of the US' fighting forces. A series of US cyber combat programs have been revealed, from Stuxnet to Fslame and X-Plan, all of which indicate that the US has mastered more complicated means and more threatening abilities than other countries in terms of cyberattacks.

The latest indictments against the five Chinese military personnel have also reminded people of a series of previous cyber espionage claims against China by the US. In February 2013, Mandiant, a US cybersecurity firm, released a report accusing China's military of plotting hacker attacks against US enterprises. After that, many in the US, including the president and senior government officials, expressed a tough stance toward China and threatened economic sanctions against it. Some even suggested that US enterprises "hacked" by China should make cyber counterattacks in retaliation. Such groundless accusations of Chinese cyberattacks have drastically tainted the US' domestic political environment toward China and also frozen cybersecurity cooperation between the two countries.

The Chinese government has consistently advocated a new type of major-power relations with the US, and it has refrained from overreacting to Washington's "threatening signals". Even after the Snowden revelations, the Chinese government still adhered to the principles of no-conflict, no-confrontation, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation, and it is actively pushing for cooperation with the US in cybersecurity and working for the establishment of a cybersecurity work panel under the Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue framework.

All the evidence indicates that it is the US that is the world's largest Internet hacker and that the global cyber arms race triggered by the US' actions poses the largest threat to global cybersecurity. The US has so far cited "for the sake of national security" as the only excuse for its pervasive Internet espionage. The US should know that a country cannot put its national security above the interests and national security of other countries and the basic norms of international relations. The double standards the US has embraced in cybersecurity have damaged its credibility and compromised its image as a responsible power.

To enjoy the dividends of the booming Internet sector and communication technologies, cyberspace must be peaceful, safe, open and cooperative. Cyberspace should not be a field for either a cold or hot war, and the latest developments have once again underscored the importance and urgency for formulating common rules for cyber activities.

The US indictments of the Chinese military personnel are not conducive to global efforts to maintain the stability and security of cyberspace. The US, by taking advantage of its technological and military dominance, has established a cyber hegemony. It is hoped the US can lead the global Internet sector to develop in a healthy direction, as it once spearheaded the progress of Internet technologies for human progress.

- Contributed By Tang Lan (China Daily) The author is deputy director of the Institute of Information and Social Development Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

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Shangri-La Dialogue proves unfairly dominated by Washington, regional harsh accusations

The Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), held annually in Singapore, is a security forum where Western, especially US discourse power has the upper hand. It's not, as the West claimed, timed to deal with security anxieties ratcheted up in the Asia-Pacific region, but a platform to sell US security doctrines that are positively portrayed as "contributing to regional stability."

Throughout these years, three terms have been used over and over to describe China's defense policy at the dialogue, among which "uncertain" is the lightest one. In recent times, China has been increasingly accused of being "aggressive" or "bullying" others. The SLD, which is actually led by the US, offers a platform to communicate with Beijing while pressuring it.

Another purpose of the SLD is to coordinate relations among US allies. At the SLD over last weekend, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rallied defense ministers from Japan and South Korea to hold a trilateral meeting despite strained relationship between Seoul and Tokyo.

Tempers frayed unprecedentedly at this year's SLD, as Japan and the US ganged up to antagonize China. The keynote address delivered by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was a barrage against China and its recent behavior in the East China Sea and South China Sea disputes.

Abe emphasized the importance of international law to resolve or at least manage disputes. He also pledged Japan would play an "even greater and more proactive role" with stronger defense ties to Southeast Asia, including an offer to provide patrol boats to the Philippines and Vietnam.

In a subsequent address next morning, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel endorsed Abe's speech and unleashed a rhetorical fusillade on China.

The rhetoric from Tokyo and Washington only reinforced both countries' anxieties over China's growing might.

It's not difficult to pick out logical loopholes from Abe's elaborate speech. He clamored for respect for international law, but the prime minister's ambition to enshrine collective self-defense is a violation of Japan's pacifist constitution. How can we expect a man who disregards domestic law to respect international law?

Japan promised to enhance its security role in Southeast Asia. But how can its Self-Defense Forces still be called this if they stretch into Southeast Asia?

The clumsy attacks against China didn't score much resonance from the Southeast Asian contingent, the most important audience at Shangri-La.

Vietnam and the Philippines acted rather constrainedly in Singapore. And after Hagel's speech, a professor from Indonesia asked the defense secretary whether the US is contradicting itself by opposing one single country, implicitly China, dominating East Asia while the US itself pursues a dominant role. But Hagel evaded giving a direct answer.

The tone of this SLD was set during Abe's keynote speech. The Chinese delegation were duly incensed and forced to return fire.

Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the General Staff of the PLA, accused Abe and Hagel of sticking to each other targeting China, departing from the speech he had prepared for the dialogue. The Chinese side went toe-to-toe with Washington and Tokyo.

In its move from being a reluctant participant in the SLD, China now engages actively in the security forum.

This year, the sizeable contingent from China includes military representatives, scholars, media persons and a diplomatic delegation led by Fu Ying, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress.

The primary goal of the Chinese delegation was to advocate and elaborate a new security concept for Asia. Nonetheless, we were kidnapped by the crude Western accusations and forced into a defensive battle.

In recent years, there are soaring attacks against China at the SLD, a West-dominated platform.

China should prepare itself for provocations and respond in a more wise and humorous way. There is no need to be led by the nose by the Western countries.

More importantly, we should cultivate and expand the clout of multilateral platforms where China can have a bigger say, such as the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and the World Peace Forum.

Sources: The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Yu Jincui with Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China. yujincui@globaltimes.com.cn

Regional harsh accusations overshadow Shangri-La talks

Perhaps the number "13" is unlucky after all. For, over this weekend, the 13th Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), the premier Asia-Pacific security forum held annually in Singapore, was unfortunately shrouded in a thicket of almost tangible tension.

The first salvo was launched by none other than the increasingly controversial Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. During his keynote speech at SLD opening dinner, Abe made a thinly veiled accusation that China upset the status quo in the East China Sea by threat of force.

Abe talked about the need to change the country's legal basis, a reference to the amendment of Japan's pacifist constitution, to enable it to take part in "collective self-defense." But amiss in Abe's extensive description of the "new Japanese" concept was any mention of Japan's militaristic past which still casts a dark pall over many of its victimized neighbors.

The next morning, as if in sync, US secretary of defense Chuck Hagel wasted no time in his keynote speech to directly confront China by accusing the latter of unilaterally altering the status quo in the South China Sea.

Hagel followed up by officially stating the US disapproval of China's setting up of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea. Echoing Abe, Hagel agreed with the need to amend the Japanese constitution, and even mooted the reassessment of their joint defense treaty.

The unusually blunt and strident US posture during this year's SLD startled many observers. But a careful examination of the recent chain of events both regionally and worldwide may provide some clues as to Hagel's tough tone.

A rapidly emergent China, with its attendant rising confidence in tackling foreign and regional matters, almost inevitably gave rise to the perception among some US policymakers that the hitherto more or less unchallenged regional leadership of the US in the Asia-Pacific region was being increasingly sapped.

This resulted in the US urgency to reassert its preeminent role in at least the security matters of the region. Hence the notions of "pivoting" and "rebalancing" rang aloud in US rhetoric versus this region. This sense of acute leadership reinstatement is further exacerbated by recent US foreign policy fiascos around the world.

The Edward Snowden-revealed US blatant spying on foes and allies alike continued to gnaw at global US credibility and moral standing. US President Barack Obama's own threat of use of force to resolve the Syrian civil war was essentially upstaged by a last-minute Russian brokered deal to avert imminent attack.

Yet the Chinese responded to these seemingly joint attacks with a two-pronged approach. The more genteel response was delivered by its former vice foreign minister Fu Ying, who reassured the region of China's peaceful intension and long-standing contribution to regional security.

The more head-on response came in the form of off-the-cuff remarks Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the General Staff of the PLA, who characterized both Abe and Hagel's speeches as being provocative to China.

Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that the general mood among many of the SLD participants from regional neighbors was such that while potential Japanese remilitarization and the return of US hegemony in the region were certainly not welcome, a certain perception of increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region, rightly or otherwise, was also taking root. China needs to redouble its efforts in assuring its neighbors of its purported peaceful rise.

But despite their confrontational postures, both Wang and Hagel made ample mentions of various ongoing and perspective security cooperation mechanisms between the US and China, giving the impression that their "new type of major power relationship" could still hold up despite stark differences.

In addition, Abe, Hagel and Wang variously gave high praises for the important roles in regional security played by East Asian Summit, ASEAN Regional Forum as well as ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus.

It is in this sense that despite the dense and serious mood permeating this year's SLD, a glimmer of hope can still be gleaned.

Contributed by Ei Sun Oh Source:Global Times Published: 2014-6-3 19:38:01
The author is a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

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