China’s latest island grab: Fishing ‘militia’ makes move on sandbars around Philippines’ Thitu Island
Jamie Seidel, AFPNews Corp Australia Network, March 5, 2019 9:19AM
There’s a new name in the South China Sea’s growing list of flashpoints: Thitu Island. While nowhere near the scale of Fiery Cross or Mischief Reefs, this island and bundle of low-lying sandbars off the Philippines coast is just as significant.
It’s a prosperous fishing spot. And it’s another potential territorial marker in the hotly contested international waterway.
Now, China has physically staked its claim over the sandbars that surround it.
Filipino fishermen say they are being driven away from their traditional fishing grounds, by Chinese boats.
The waters between Thitu Island and Subi Reef, both of which are near the northwestern Philippines, have long been claimed as part of its territorial waters.
But, since 2015, China simply took over Subi Reef and used land-reclamation engineering to turn it into an enormous naval and air force fortress.
Beijing has recently staked a claim to almost the entire South China Sea, even though it extends far to the south and east of the mainland. It includes waters claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mayor Roberto del Mundo of Kalayaan, a Philippines Palawan town which administers Thitu Island, has told Inquirer.net that his fishermen are being elbowed out.
Thitu Island itself is home to a Philippines slipway, jetty, runway and anchorage. But fishermen attempting to operate from there are being turned back as soon as they approach the nearest sandbar just 3km off the island’s coast.
“It means they (the Chinese) think they own it because they refuse to leave. If they’re just really fishing, they can leave for Subi Reef and then come back, but they no longer leave,” Del Mundo said.
“The presence of Chinese boats is now affecting our fishing activities. It wasn’t that way before. When our fishermen is about to get near Sandbar 3, that is really our fishing ground, a Chinese vessel would immediately come up to us to ward us off so we can’t come closer.”
“On January 22 at 7 in the evening, I personally witnessed a helicopter that flew over the island. It did not flash a spotlight (searchlight) … It happened fast; it made a few rounds and then it left,” Del Mundo told the Inquirer.
“We were nervous because it might erupt into something. But we just stared at it until it left. It went towards (the Chinese fortress of) Subi Reef. It headed towards Subi because on the other side there’s nothing there.”
More.......
https://www.perthnow.com.au/busines...tu-island-ng-7805269e5fe270f59e7657328f0c6382
Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea located off the coast of western Philippines.
A satellite image showing the island's location.
A satellite photo dated March 20, 2018, showing the artificial island fortress of Subi Reef - just 24km from the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island.
Jamie Seidel, AFPNews Corp Australia Network, March 5, 2019 9:19AM
There’s a new name in the South China Sea’s growing list of flashpoints: Thitu Island. While nowhere near the scale of Fiery Cross or Mischief Reefs, this island and bundle of low-lying sandbars off the Philippines coast is just as significant.
It’s a prosperous fishing spot. And it’s another potential territorial marker in the hotly contested international waterway.
Now, China has physically staked its claim over the sandbars that surround it.
Filipino fishermen say they are being driven away from their traditional fishing grounds, by Chinese boats.
The waters between Thitu Island and Subi Reef, both of which are near the northwestern Philippines, have long been claimed as part of its territorial waters.
But, since 2015, China simply took over Subi Reef and used land-reclamation engineering to turn it into an enormous naval and air force fortress.
Beijing has recently staked a claim to almost the entire South China Sea, even though it extends far to the south and east of the mainland. It includes waters claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mayor Roberto del Mundo of Kalayaan, a Philippines Palawan town which administers Thitu Island, has told Inquirer.net that his fishermen are being elbowed out.
Thitu Island itself is home to a Philippines slipway, jetty, runway and anchorage. But fishermen attempting to operate from there are being turned back as soon as they approach the nearest sandbar just 3km off the island’s coast.
“It means they (the Chinese) think they own it because they refuse to leave. If they’re just really fishing, they can leave for Subi Reef and then come back, but they no longer leave,” Del Mundo said.
“The presence of Chinese boats is now affecting our fishing activities. It wasn’t that way before. When our fishermen is about to get near Sandbar 3, that is really our fishing ground, a Chinese vessel would immediately come up to us to ward us off so we can’t come closer.”
“On January 22 at 7 in the evening, I personally witnessed a helicopter that flew over the island. It did not flash a spotlight (searchlight) … It happened fast; it made a few rounds and then it left,” Del Mundo told the Inquirer.
“We were nervous because it might erupt into something. But we just stared at it until it left. It went towards (the Chinese fortress of) Subi Reef. It headed towards Subi because on the other side there’s nothing there.”
More.......
https://www.perthnow.com.au/busines...tu-island-ng-7805269e5fe270f59e7657328f0c6382
Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea located off the coast of western Philippines.
A satellite image showing the island's location.
A satellite photo dated March 20, 2018, showing the artificial island fortress of Subi Reef - just 24km from the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island.
