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MEDIA WATCH
Chinese officials fill up first
Sansha cruise in disputed seas
More civil servants than actual
tourists climbed aboard the first
Chinese cruise ship to visit
disputed South China Sea islands
on 28 April. Only 100 of 240
passengers were regular citizens,
the Shanghai
Morning
Post reported on 29 April. The rest
were civil servants from various
government organs in Hainan
province. The debut cruise went to
the Paracel Islands' Sansha, the
newly established prefecture-level
city created last year to consolidate
China's de facto control. As many
as 100 tourists paid between 7,000
Yuan (HK$8,800) and 9,000 Yuan
for the four-day voyage, but stayed
in second-class cabins or lower.
Officials and civil servants,
however, were free to choose more
luxurious cabins and pay less, the
report said. A price chart obtained
by the newspaper also showed that
tourists were charged an extra
3,250 Yuan per person than civil
servants in similar cabins. But the
newspaper said the tourists were
not bothered by the unequal
treatment. A Hunan passenger
surnamed Ma said it was worth the
money to experience the “original
beauty” of Sansha. Everyone was
subjected to the same high security
checks during boarding, however.
Passengers went through security
checks twice, taking two hours for
the whole process, the newspaper
said. Plans to allow tourists to visit
the Paracel Islands are the latest
stage in China’s development of
the territory, which has previously
angered Vietnam and caused
concern in Washington. Officials
earlier this month confirmed they
would open up the islands to
tourism.
Source: South China Morning Post, 29
April 2013
ASEAN, Chinese Foreign
Ministers to meet over South
China Sea disputes
Secretary-General of Association of
South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Le Luong Minh said on
29 April that foreign ministers of
ASEAN member countries will
have a meeting with their Chinese
counterpart in Beijing to further
discuss peaceful settlement on
territorial disputes in the South
China Sea. "The meeting between
ASEAN foreign affairs ministers
and Chinese foreign affairs minister
has been scheduled in August or
September this year in Beijing,"
Minh told Xinhua on the sidelines
of a media briefing on the results of
the recent high-profile ASEAN
Summit held in Bandar Seri
Begawan, Brunei. He said that
during the summit, all ASEAN
members agreed to assign their
foreign ministries to continue to
work actively with China on the
way forward for early conclusion of
a Code of Conduct in the South
China Sea (COC) on the basis of
consensus. In his briefing, Minh
said that ASEAN leaders
reaffirmed the importance of
peace, stability and maritime
security in the region. They also
underscored the importance of the
Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea
(DOC), ASEAN's six-point
Principles on the South China Sea
and the Joint Statement of the 10th
anniversary of the DOC. "In this
regard, we reaffirmed the collective
commitments under the DOC to
ensuring the peaceful resolution of
dispute in accordance with
universally recognized principles of
international law, including the
1982 United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea without
resorting to the threat or use of
force, while exercising self-restraint
in the conduct of activities," Minh
said in the briefing. He added that
ASEAN is looking forward to
continued engagement with China
in implementing the DOC in a full
and effective manner, including
through mutually agreed joint
cooperative activities and projects.
Source Xinhua, 29 April 2013
South China Sea disputes
dominate first day of ASEAN
summit
Territorial disputes in the South
China Sea dominated the first day
of a meeting of the leaders of the
ASEAN, Philippine President
Benigno Aquino said on 25 April.
"Everybody is interested in having
a peaceful resolution and also
invoicing their concern that there
have been increasing sea disputes,"
he told reporters in a briefing at the
Philippine Embassy in the capital
of Bandar Seri Begawan. Aquino
said Brunei Sultan Hassanal
Bolkiah, chairman of ASEAN this
year, immediately brought out the
topic of the South China Sea and
the need to seek peaceful resolution
of the disputes during the start of
the two-day summit on 24 April.
He added that as far as the
Philippines is concerned; a legally
binding code of conduct among
countries with overlapping
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