By M. Taylor Fravel
The most striking feature of China’s behavior in its maritime disputes this year has been efforts to redefine the status quo. In its disputes with the Philippines and Japan, China has used the presence of its civilian maritime law enforcement agencies to create new facts on the water to strengthen China’s sovereignty claims.
Before April 2012, neither China nor the Philippines maintained a permanent presence at Scarborough Shoal. Fishermen from the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and China operated in and around the large reef. At times in the past, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Philippine navy had arrested Chinese fishermen who were inside the shoal. Since then, Chinese patrols have sailed by the shoal, but no effort has been undertaken to exercise effective control over the shoal or its surrounding waters.
The situation changed following the standoff over sovereignty of Scarborough Shoal. The standoff began in April 2012 when the Philippine navy prepared to arrest Chinese fishermen who were operating in the shoal’s lagoon. After receiving a distress call, two China Marine Surveillance (CMS) vessels arrived on the scene, blocking the entrance to the lagoon and preventing the arrest of the Chinese fishermen. After the fishing boats left the shoal, however, government ships from both sides remained to defend claims to sovereignty over the shoal. By the end of May, China had deployed as many as seven CMS and Bureau of Fisheries Administration ships.
Read the full story at The Diplomat