Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. (Photo: Lozano/PPD)

Fishing deal with China would settle maritime dispute

PHILIPPINES
Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 22:40 (GMT + 9)

A joint fishing agreement reportedly being discussed between China and the Philippines is deemed a significant step forward in the relations between the two countries after an old maritime sovereignty dispute.

Governments from the two Asian countries are talking about a tentative deal now after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte agreed to pursue it during a meeting in April, according to media outlets in Manila, VOA reported.

The Philippines formally disputes Chinese fishing boat, coast guard and naval use of the South China Sea within its 370-kilometer-wide coastal exclusive economic zone.

But months after Duterte took office in 2016, the two leaders met to form a friendship that has seen both sides set aside the maritime dispute.

As part of those stronger relations, China is rolling out pledges of USD 24 billion in aid and investment to help the Philippines develop.

China cites historical maps to back its claims to about 90 per cent of the sea despite competing sovereignty assertions from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Beijing and Manila sparred from 2012 to 2016 over fishery-rich Scarborough Shoal.

When Duterte visited China in late 2016 to break ice, Xi called for “stronger bilateral cooperation in fisheries” among other sectors, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said in October that year.

The Philippines’ hands are “legally tied” constitutionally when it comes to signing formal fishing cooperation deals, said Jay Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines international maritime affairs professor. Any deal might be just a “modus vivendi,” he said.

“If it is within our exclusive economic zone (EEZ), it’s not an agreement, it should be a fishing permit,” said Antonio Contreras, political scientist at De La Salle University in the Philippines. Ideally, he said, “it’s not an agreement between equals, but it’s more like ‘I’m giving you permission to fish under my terms.’”

A more formal agreement might say which side can fish where, including access for both to disputed waters.

Elsewhere in East Asia, the Philippines signed a fisheries-related law enforcement agreement with Taiwan in 2015. Vietnam and Malaysia were working on a fishery deal last year.

As many as 1.6 million vessels from all countries combined fish the South China Sea, according to research under the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

But Filipino fishing boats generally stay inside the 370-kilometer line and in the nearby Spratly Islands as traditional fishing grounds. Their boats are often too small or weak to test more distant seas.

Boats from China, Taiwan and Vietnam regularly fish farther out.

Some experts fear that a fishing deal might effectively let Chinese vessels use the Philippine maritime claim without risk, even while no Filipinos venture into waters closer to China itself.

 
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