China Clarifies Boarding Rules in South China Sea

BEIJING—A Chinese official clarified new regulations allowing Chinese police to board foreign ships in parts of the disputed South China Sea that had raised fresh alarm among some of China's neighbors.

The new regulations don't apply to all of the territory that Beijing claims, a Chinese official and expert on the region said Tuesday following expressions of concern about the rules from several countries in the region, already on edge from other scuffles with China.

Several experts on the region had said the rules, which have yet to be published in full, appeared to apply to the 12 nautical mile zone of territorial waters around islands that China claims, although it was unclear how they would be enforced in practice.

However, Wu Shichun, the director of the foreign affairs office of the southern Chinese province of Hainan, who is also president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, gave a narrower interpretation of the regulations in a faxed response to questions. He said their main purpose was to deal with Vietnamese fishing boats operating in the waters near Yongxing island in the Paracels, which China calls the Xisha islands.

The regulations, which take effect on Jan. 1, apply to waters around islands for which China had announced "baselines," Mr. Wu said.

A baseline is the low-water line along the coast from which countries measure their territorial waters, according to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

He said the rules allowed police to check and expel vessels that entered, or conducted illegal activity, within 12 nautical miles of the islands for which China had announced baselines.

"But for islands whose territorial water baselines have not yet been announced, since there is no way to clearly define the width of their territorial sea, the aforementioned problem does not exist," he said. "The outside world should not overreact to the revision of these rules, or read too much into them, nor should anyone give a one-sided or distorted explanation."

China formally announced baselines for its mainland coast and the Paracel Islands—which are also claimed by Vietnam—in 1996, but hasn't yet done so for other islands in the South China Sea, where the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have territorial claims.

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The Philippine and U.S. governments asked China to clarify the regulations last week, while Singapore on Monday expressed concern over the development. India's navy chief, Adm. D.K Joshi, said on Monday his country was prepared to send warships to the area to protect Indian interests if necessary.

Vietnam, which appears to be the country most affected by the new rules, hasn't publicly commented on them.

China has had de facto control of the Paracels since seizing them from South Vietnam in a brief conflict in 1974. Beijing established a new city, called Sansha, with its own military garrison on Yongxing in July to administer the islands and waters that Beijing claims.

China Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday that the Chinese government was investigating an allegation from the state-run Vietnam Oil & Gas Group on Monday that two Chinese fishing vessels had cut cables of a Vietnamese ship doing seismic oil exploration work in the South China Sea. "To our initial knowledge, the incident took place in the overlapping areas claimed by China and Vietnam. China's fishing boats were engaging in normal fishing activity in that part of the sea," Mr. Hong said.

Asked about the Indian navy chief's comments, Mr. Hong said China opposed unilateral oil and gas development in the South China Sea.

Adm. Joshi said on Monday that ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of India's state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., was operating in three blocks in the South China Sea, and had started production in one of them. The blocks are all near the coast of Vietnam, which granted the concessions to the company.

"In situations where our country's interests are involved—ONGC Videsh, etc., we will be required to go there and we are prepared for that," Adm. Joshi said.

"And are we preparing for it and are we having exercises of that nature, the short answer is yes."

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