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The dispute between China and the Philippines over ownership of the rocks
and reefs variously known as Scarborough Shoal/Panatag Shoal/Huangyan Island
is at one level very petty. But at another it demonstrates what can best be
described blatantly racist bravado on the part of Beijing.
Manila would do well to learn up some of its own pre-Spanish history so as
to better expose the arrogance of a nation which regards other, non-Han
people and their histories as non-existent or irrelevant. Han chauvinism is
writ large in this tale, which should be a reminder to the Malay peoples
whose lands border more than half the South China Sea – itself a name
created by westerners and does no more than describe a sea south of China –
that they may yet go the way of the Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols and find
themselves oppressed minorities in a Han empire.
Beijing’s aggressive stance is doubly unfortunate given the positive role
that individual Chinese migrants and their descendants have played in the
Philippines for several centuries. When China was closed, its
entrepreneurial coastal people found opportunity in the Malay world. Is that
era of fruitful interaction to be ended as an open China becomes a
threatening China?
The Chinese claim to Scarborough Shoal (to use a relatively neutral word
derived from a ship which sank there) is ridiculous on a whole number of
grounds yet it persists in trying to enforce it in the correct belief that
the Philippines is poor and weak and that ASEAN solidarity is non-existent
– for which Malaysia is particularly to blame.
China claims to have “discovered” the island, included it in its territory
and exercised control over it. The basis for this claim is simply a map
dating from the time when China was under the thumb of a foreign dynasty –
that of the Mongol Kublai Khan whose capital was in modern Mongolia. The
fact that it is on a map is anyway meaningless in terms of ownership rights
– though China often claims that the mere presence of Chinese traders in a
place or the payment of taxes to be allowed to trade with China amounted to
“tribute” and acceptance of Beijing’s hegemony.
The fact that China stated a claim to Scarborough Shoal in 1932 and again in
1947 is neither here nor there. It is even more outrageous than the actions
of British seafarers in the 19th century going around the world planting
the British flag and claiming it as theirs. In the case of Scarborough there
was not even a planting of a flag and setting up of a permanent settlement.
The fact is that Scarborough is uninhabitable and thus fails qualify as an
island which would support a claim to surrounding sea.
China also makes the extraordinary statement that its stated claims predate
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea it is not bound by it. This must
surely be one of the most self-serving pieces of nonsense that even
Communist-ruled China has produced. It is in the old tradition of Imperial
China that all other nations are inferior and thus it cannot submit to any
outside or independent questioning of its claims.
Scarborough lies some 135 nautical miles from the coast of Luzon and thus
well within the Philippines 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone within which
only it has the right to fishing and to seabed resources. It is
approximately 350 miles from the mainland of China and 300 miles from the
tip of Taiwan.
China’s reference to a 13th century map merely shows up the ignorance that
accompanies the Han version of history, which does not bother with the deeds
of “lesser” peoples. China was actually a very late comer to overseas
navigation. For more than a thousand years before its own ships were
venturing beyond coastal waters, China’s trade with and travelers to the
Malay lands, India, Arabia and the west were being carried on foreign ships
– Malay, Indian, Arab. When the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Hsien visited
Sri Lanka in the 4th Century he travelled in Malay vessels from China to
Sumatra and then on to Sri Lanka. The ancestors of today’s Filipinos were
trading with the kingdom of Funan, based on the Mekong delta, around or
before the year 300 of the present era. About the same time seafarers from
Indonesia were crossing the Indian ocean to settle Madagascar – where the
language and 50 percent of the gene pool is of Malay origin – and probably
have settlements on the African coast.
China loves to regale its own people and gullible westerners of the
achievements of Zheng He and his huge “treasure ships” which sailed around
Asia and across to Africa in the 15th century. But the main distinguishing
feature of Zheng He’s voyages was the size of the vessels and numbers of
soldiers they carried, enabling China to impose its will on some lesser
territories. It accomplished nothing in navigational terms that other Asians
had not done centuries before.
Given the history of pre-Chinese trading and fishing it is simply absurd to
claim that China discovered Scarborough Shoal, which lies so close to Luzon
and close to sailing routes to southern Vietnam and beyond. The claim that
only Chinese have traditionally fished in these waters is even more spurious
. Until very recent times of rampant overfishing of the South China Sea
there was no reason for Chinese to venture so far to find a good catch.
In another effort to back its claim Beijing has resorted to a treaty between
two western colonial powers who at the time were dividing up Asia without
regard to any interests but their own. China’s Foreign Ministry cites the
Treaty of Paris in 1898 which brought an end to the Spanish-American war and
ceded to the US the Philippines – and Cuba and Guam.
The treaty referred to the “Philippine archipelago” but did not mention
specific islands with that vast collection. It described a series of
straight lines on maps which were clearly done to keep it simple and without
regard to the actual geography.
One of those lines ran northwards from 116E to 118E leaving the Scarborough
Shoal, at 117.5E a few miles outside Philippine territory as defined by the
treaty. But clearly the shoal is part of any normal definition of
archipelago, not to mention its vast distance from any Chinese-inhabited
island. That China has to cite a treaty in which Filipinos played no part is
evidence of the bankruptcy of its claims which would be dismissed out of
hand by any independent tribunal acting on the basis of the UN Law of the
Sea Convention.
But while other countries in the region – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore –
have been willing to submit to third party judgments of conflicting claims,
China believes it is bound by no international rules and will deal only
with individual countries. Most obviously it has picked on the Philippines
as the weakest of the four Southeast Asian countries facing China’s
imperial designs.
The Malay countries, meanwhile, seem hobbled in replying with details of
their history to trump China. The Philippines has largely forgotten its pre-
Spanish history, partly because the Spanish missionaries imposed use of
Latin and Spanish in place of the old local scripts – scripts of whose
existence most Filipinos are unaware.
Indonesia and Malaysian both have problems addressing their pre-Islamic past
, which to most historians were rather more glorious than their post-Hindu/
Buddhist records of art, kingship and navigation. Malaysia worries that a
strong stand against China’s South China Sea push will be bad for business,
and local Chinese votes.
But the Scarborough Shoal issue shows just how blatant China’s expansionism
has become. It is time in particular for Malaysia and Indonesia to show
some mettle and stand with the Philippines and Vietnam, the front line
states in the Malay battle against Han hegemony.
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Comments (8)
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China's claims are empty
written by D. Nicol, April 23, 2012
And Zheng He was not Han Chinese, but a Muslim of Persian ancestry. So
Chinese boasts of any maritime accomplishments, ever, amount to zilch. China
closed the southern coast and banned anyone from living within 50 li of the
shore for about a decade; not the sign of a nation concerned about maritime
matters. One would expect that claims to any and all islands would have
been automatically forfeited at that time. The PRC's claim over the Senkaku
("Diaoyu") Islands is based on an entry in a centuries-old travel memoir.
The travelers didn't even land there, but the PRC today sputters "I saw it
first" like a spoiled child, prompting eager would-be heroes in Hong Kong go
on quixotic boating adventures there every year.
Once China settles the islands disputes in their favour, what's next on the
imperial agenda? Uttar Pradesh? Mongolia?
+3
China rewrites history
written by Cao Zhong Guo, April 23, 2012
When you have an autocracy like China, it can brainwash it's citizentry into
believing its claims on territories so far away from its coast that ignores
International laws of Territorial Seas. Each day there are hundreds of
protests against the govt in China and showing conflicts in the South China
Sea is one way to divert attention of its populace and galvanise them
against a little bogeyman like Philippines & Vietnam. It gets worse when its
economy and military is on the rise and the amount of nationalism is on the
rise. China is one of the few countries that has not experienced the
negative effects of nationalism in recent times and it's people and leaders
do not know how destructive this can be (they forget it can be as bad as
their Cultural Revolution, just look across the Yellow Sea to Japan). When
one gets powerful, one can rewrite history to its own will and lose
objectivity, and sense of fairness to others. I agree with the author - if
having the Spratly's on your ancient map is justification, then Spain can
claim the N. and S. American continents as well as Caribbean states, Italy
can claim Ancient Rome's territories from Europe to Mideast, the greeks can
claim north Africa. Heck, Mongolia can claim China, and most of Asia and
Europe. Awesome logic, isn't it?
The Spratlys are in the backyards of several smaller SE Asian countries, too
close for comfort.
+4
GANID AT SIRA-ULONG TSINA
written by TALIBA, April 24, 2012
This comment has been deleted because it is not written in English -- Eds.
+3
South CHINA Sea
written by The REAL Thing, April 24, 2012
Skewed? No . . .
" Scarborough Shoal/Panatag Shoal/Huangyan Island. . ." Which name is OLDEST
? Are claims "racist bravado"? Then Liancourt Rocks bt Japan and Korea id
also racist? Hundreds of such claims around the world. Right?
"pre-Spanish history"? Then we didnt have a Filipino nation but one of sea
nomads or gtpsies. "non-Han people"? The 5000 year Chinese civilisation is
neither Han or non-Han. How do you define "the Malay peoples" when Malaysia
defines them as those who professes the Islamic religion (not Christianity),
speak Malay (not Tagalog) and embracing Malay customs & traditions (meaning
Indonesian not Spainish or American). Yes "the South CHINA Sea" not the
Aral Sea or North Sea. "Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols and find themselves
oppressed minorities in a Han empire." The Tibetans and Mongols are but
Mongoloids. The latter is a part of the Chinese civilzation - Yuan Dynasty!
Uigurs are of Turkish descent; migrants from the Silk Route era.
China claims to have “discovered” the island," Go read Gavin Menzies' (non
-Chinese) "The Mongol Kublai Khan whose capital was in modern Mongolia." Are
you sure the Yuan Dynasty wasnt seated in Peking? What about the Manchu
Ching Dynasty? "The fact that it is on a map is anyway meaningless . ."
China has ANCIENT maps to prove its claims. What about the other claimants?
Probably they havent learned even to write the Romanic script let alone
cartograpgy. Did they even have the navigation compass? LOL.
"Distance"? Why dont you try reconciling UK with the Falklands or the US
with Guam. " for example.gene pool is of Malay origin"? Antroplogists dont
have "Malay" but Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Australoid or Polynesian.
Btw, longitudes and latitudes, is part of the divide and rule of Western
imperialists. Africa is not complaining. "Submit to third party judgments"?
Have you asked the US & NATO to get UN's approval before invading Iraq or
Afganistan?
"the Malay battle against Han hegemony" This must be a joke. The so-called
Malay who're Islamisc and not Christians are fighting to break up Mndanao
from the Phillipines.
I can continue to show you're unreal given that you dont even identify
yourself nor your academic credentials and title. LOL.
+2
So what is the non Chinese history?, Lowly rated comment [Show]
...
written by Frankie Wally, April 25, 2012
Please have the courtesy to state "our Correspondent"s name. I am certain "
our correspondent" has the guts to reveal his/her name.
-1
Our perspectives are our own business
written by Malays are no saints, April 25, 2012
"Malay" according to our ultra racist Mahathir, ex PM of racist Malaysia, is
a politically engineered insane-oid manufactured by warped & Hitler-ist
half-cast Malays who hijacked the Malaysian government's racist agenda in
order to corner off all the juiciest majority portion of the economy for
themselves.
I do not know who the hell this purported "our correspondent" really belongs
- is he a Christian Philipino, an Islamic Achenes, Javanese or Malukus
Indonesian or Malaysian Malay or ?
If "HE" is a Phillipino, may I remind him how naive he thinks he claims to
belong to one big happy Malay family. A Malay, according to once again the
guru of racism Mahathir, is NECESSARILY a Muslim. So, your Catholicism makes
you an evil infidel. Your professed religion is a betrayal of Malayness.
The Malay heartland never considers you a pedigree son but an outcast or
likely descendant from a possible rape-by-westerner illicit ron devu.
If "HE" is an Indonesian - may I remind you of your blood-stained history
against our compatriots your ethnic Chinese Indonesian minority who single-
handedly built your economy but instead of gratitude, all they got were
pogrom after pogrom, reckless looting, & meticulously selected rapes by your
so-called rogue army which is good for nothing by terrorizing their own
domestic constituents. Indonesians have been ranked as the second most hated
people just behind the Japanese if ever there is a need for revenge to
correct the past. Watch your foul mouth & pray that the Chinese masses do
not understand English well enough to to fathom what you said here.
If "HE" is a good-for-nothing Malaysian Malay - the Malays' ill-treatment of
their Chinese minority is well documented & world "famous". These crimes
are not brought out into the open because the crunch has not yet arrived. Of
course Chinese worldwide are well aware of the infamous May13 1969
slaughter of Chinese on KL streets & the instigator was none other than the
father of the present PM Najis Razak. The score will be settled at the
appropriate time. By then, there may not a "complete" Malaysia per se - East
Malaysian States of Sabah & Sarawak shall be appropriately returned to
their rightful owners the Dusun-Kadazans & Dayaks who share nothing in
common with the greedy Malays from the Peninsula. Malaysia shall be a just
past tense & reverts back to Malaya again.
If "HE" is a white man dressed a up as a Malay nationalist - then his
ulterior motive is blatantly obvious. This is the guy who wants to foment an
Asian conflict so that he can just sit tight & profit from his weapon sale
while seeing the dream of an Asian Century going up in flame.
+1
The Real Thing
written by Jerzy Balovsky, April 25, 2012
To the Real Thing, without wanting to run through the whole sweep of history
, 'since ancient times' or 'it's always been that way' as the Chinese
Foreign Ministry might say, the fact of the matter is that the international
community has respected the 200nm exclusive zone. China on the other hand
doesn't seem to care much for international norms. It's recent actions off
the coast of the Philippines only confirm what the world already knows about
China, it has no regard for international norms only it's economic self
interest. Re open Subic and Clark I say. It seems that might be the only
language China understands. 1.3 Billion is big and powerful but you don't
want to piss off the entire rest of the world all at once do you? That's
what you're doing! |
