Vietnamese, Filipino navies play soccer on island. - Beijing urges Hanoi restraint

China on Sunday urged Vietnam to restrain from further provocations in the South China Sea while pledging to continue communication, as Filipino and Vietnamese troops played sports on a South China Sea archipelago.

Disruption from the Vietnamese side started shortly after China's HYSY 981 oil drilling rig kicked off operations on May 2 in waters of the Xisha Islands. As of 5 pm on Saturday, there were 63 Vietnamese vessels in the area at the peak, attempting to break through China's cordon and ramming Chinese government ships 1,416 times, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Sunday.

The ministry called acts by the Vietnamese side "serious infringements upon China's sovereignty and jurisdiction and gross violations of the relevant international laws."

The two sides have not yet conducted delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf in these waters, said the statement.

China has conducted over 30 communications with Vietnam at various levels since May 2, requesting the Vietnamese side to stop its illegal disruption. Regrettably, it is still continuing, said the ministry.

While China claimed indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha and Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, a nascent partnership between Hanoi and Manila, which also shares territorial disputes with China, emerged as their navies played soccer and volleyball on one of the Nansha Islands and took turns in showing cultural presentations.

The games were held by Vietnam, while Philippine navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic said the Philippine navy had offered to host next year's games.

Hanoi was seeking opportunities for legal actions against China over territorial claims, while Manila has already done so, which China has rejected.

The Philippines and Vietnam "deem that this activity serves as a proof that disputes do not hinder development of practical and tangible cooperation between the two navies," a joint statement said.

The public display of alliance between Vietnam and the Philippines is used to send different signals to China, ASEAN countries and the US-Japan alliance, Zhuang Guotu, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

A source familiar with the issue told the Global Times that a series of other leisure activities including singing and dancing will be organized in the next step on some islands that are illegally occupied by the Philippines in a bid to "show China their unity," and earn compassion from the international community.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in an Asian security summit in May in Shanghai that "to beef up military alliances targeted at a third party is not conducive to maintaining common security in the region."

This cooperation pattern between Hanoi and Manila will become common practice in the future to label China as tough and aggressive, the source said.

Source: Global Times Published: 2014-6-9
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