New Chinese Coast Guard Regulations Threaten Fishers in South China Sea - TaiwanPlus News

China has just implemented new regulations that allow its Coast Guard to detain foreign nationals for trespassing in the disputed South China Sea. The regulations were announced by China last month and allow it to detain people it views as conducting illegal activity for 60 days. The move is prompting fears from Filipino fishers who work in the South China Sea. China claims the entirety of the sea, despite the United Nations ruling that those claims have no legal basis. The rules took effect just after China moved to halt a Philippine ship conducting underwater operations in the sea. For more on the situation in the South China Sea and how these disputes are affecting the Philippines ability to defend itself, our reporter Jaime Okan spoke to Ray Powell, a security analyst at the Gordian Knotts Centre for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. So Ray, China is saying that the Philippines is conducting this illegal activity in, in this reef in the South China Sea. Are these claims true? What, what's, what's China trying to trying to say with this message? I think what you're seeing is you're seeing a, an increase in China's activity around the disputed features. There's certainly more ships than there have been in the past. And they are moving sort of they're moving east. So they're, they're moving closer to the Philippines. Sabina Shoal is only 75 nautical miles away from Palawan, so that the, the, the action has sort of moved in that direction. Yeah, I'd say it's, it's an intensification of, of. So basically China is doubling down, if you will, on its stance. And so in some of the ways you've seen that come out is in its rhetoric. And recently the Philippines is saying that for the upcoming US RIMPAC exercises in the Pacific, it, it won't be sending any ships because of it's exciting lack of resources. Does this have anything to do with the pressure that it's facing in the South China Sea and facing China? Oh, I think it's 100% related to that. There's no question the Philippines would I, I, I, you know, under normal circumstances, would love to go to RIMPAC. And I do think it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a loss that they're not going to go. But, you know, it's hard to tell your people that, you know, on one hand, we've got all these issues close to home and on the other hand, we can send a, a ship all the way out to Hawaii. And I think, Jaime, the other thing really to keep an eye on is this, you know, as of today, the China Coast Guards new policy goes into effect where they're allowed to under their policy, detain people who violate China's claimed borders for up to 60 days without a trial. And this is really got the Philippines attention. They're very concerned about this, that some Philippine fishermen or, or, or, or somebody could be. Caught up in this and all of a sudden they've got somebody in a in a detention facility at Hainan Island or something. And that puts them in almost a hostage diplomacy situation.