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China outraged by Philippines' provocation

Xinhua, May 11, 2012

• The Chinese people are enraged by the offensive behavior of the Philippines over the Huangyan Island dispute, expressing full support to the efforts made by the Chinese government for safeguarding its territorial sovereignty.

  In defiance of China's warning and stance of resolving disputes through diplomatic ways, the Philippines keeps making trouble in the waters around Huangyan Island, China's indisputable territory.

  In early April, the Philippines sent a warship to harass 12 Chinese fishing vessels which sailed into the waters of Huangyan Island to shelter from bad weather.

  He Shixuan, a fisherman in the city of Qionghai in south China's Hainan province, is the owner of one of the 12 Chinese fishing vessels harassed by the Filipino warship. He went back to Huangyan Island again after the incident.

  He said his family has fished in waters of Huangyan Island for generations, and believed it always a part of China's territory. The return of his vessel to the island is largely a sign of his support to the government in safeguarding its sovereignty.

  "We have no reason to be afraid of any country, as we are fishing around our own island, nor do we need to evacuate the waters," said He.

  According to media reports, the Philippines has notified China on its readiness to raise the issue of the sovereignty of Huangyan Island to international arbitration.

  In addition, it tried to rename the island and remove the signs and monuments related to China, and even attempted to agitate Filipino people to hold demonstrations against China around the world.

  Facing provocation from the Philippines, China has continued to request the Philippines to immediately stop its illegal behaviors via diplomatic channels.

  Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying requested a meeting with the Charge D'affaires of the Philippine embassy in China on Monday to lodge a serious representation over the Huangyan Island incident. It was the third meeting between the two sides in a month.

  During Monday's meeting, Fu expressed hope that the Philippine side will not misjudge the situation and not escalate tensions without considering the consequences. She said China is fully prepared to respond to anything the Philippine side does to escalate the situation.

  Due to safety concerns over travel to the Philippines, a number of Chinese travel agencies have halted Philippines-bound package tour programs.

  The Huangyan Island incident has stirred public concern in China with major media outlets continuing to carry front page headlines on the issue and publish commentaries denouncing the Philippines' groundless provocative moves.

  "When one is driven beyond the limit of endurance he doesn't need to show patience any more," read an ed-op carried by China's flagship newspaper People's Daily in its overseas edition Tuesday.

  The paper in a Thursday commentary noted that with its surging overall strength, China is completely free to tackle the Huangyan Island incident in a different way.

  However, the patience that China has actually shown in coping with the incident once again demonstrates its determination to pursue a peaceful development path, its sincerity in cherishing the overall situation regarding Sino-Philippine relations, and its will of safeguarding regional stability, according to the article.

  The Philippines should "take a proper measure of itself," and avoid going beyond the limit in a wrong direction, noted the article.

  Professor Jin Canrong, an expert in international relations from Beijing-based Renmin University of China, said the Philippines' provocative behaviors over Huangyan Island incident were partly related to a stagnant economic situation in the country.

  "The Philippines falsely believes that it has the exterior advantages to provoke China and that China won't dare to resort to armed force. That's why it has dared to pull tricks repeatedly," Jin said.

  However, the Chinese army has shown its attitude. On Thursday, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, listed historical evidence, human activities and international rules that Huangyan Island is part of China's territory.

  "Anyone's attempt to take away China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island will not be allowed by the Chinese government, the people or the armed forces," the newspaper said in another signed article titled "Don't Attempt to Take Away Half an Inch of China's Territory."

  Chinese Internet users have also voiced strong indignation against the Philippines' behaviors.

  China has remained restrained and is not in favor of armed conflict. In the short term, besides diplomatic efforts, China's major strategy is to dispatch surveillance and fishery administration ships.

  "Such a practice not only reflects that China considers the Huangyan Island issue as an internal affair and conveys China's not-to-waver attitude toward territory and sovereignty problems, but also shows its wish of not resorting to force of arms to resolve the issue," said Tong Xiaoling, Chinese ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

  However, on the other side, the Philippine authorities tried to use domestic sentiment as a weapon against China. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Wednesday that the Philippines had motivated the Philippine public and its citizens living overseas to stage demonstrations against China, which have aroused strong responses and concern among Chinese people at home and abroad.

  "We hope the Philippines will not further damage bilateral relations," said the spokesman.

  Jin Canrong said that such behaviors by the Philippines would not help resolve the problem, and the Chinese government would continue to persuade the Philippine side to change its mind.

  "If the Philippines continue to go its own way and infringes China's substantial interests overseas, the consequence will be very severe," said Jin.

  Zheng Yongnian, director of East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, told Xinhua that China's inherent ownership of Huangyan Island was supported by historical evidence and was also indisputable in law.

  "Although China pursues a foreign policy of building an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood with its neighbors, China should integrate all kinds of resources to achieve its diplomatic objective and make no compromise on issues concerning its core interests if the Philippines blindly make provocation," Zheng said.

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