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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Beijing warns on ‘illegal’ fishing
Chinese tourists take souvenir photos with the Chinese national flag as they visit Quanfu Island, one of Paracel Islands of Sansha prefecture of southern China`s Hainan province in the South China Sea. Photo: AP
‘SERIOUS’ CRIMINAL ACT: China periodically detains fishermen in the South China Sea, while its fishermen occassionally get detained by other claimant nations
/ Reuters, BEIJING
The Chinese Supreme Court yesterday ruled that people caught illegally fishing in Chinese waters could be jailed for up to a year, issuing a judicial interpretation defining those waters as including China’s exclusive economic zones.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled last month that China had no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and that it had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights with various actions in the sea, infuriating Beijing, which dismissed the ruling.
None of China’s reefs and holdings in the Spratly Islands （Nansha Islands, 南沙群島） entitled it to an exclusive economic zone, the court ruled.
The Chinese Supreme Court made no direct mention of the South China Sea or The Hague ruling, but said its judicial interpretation was made in accordance with both Chinese law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which the Philippines had brought its case.
“Judicial power is an important component of national sovereignty,” the court said. “People’s courts will actively exercise jurisdiction over China’s territorial waters, support administrative departments to legally perform maritime management duties ... and safeguard Chinese territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.”
Jurisdictional seas covered by the interpretation include contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves, it said.
People who illegally enter Chinese territorial waters and refuse to leave after being driven out, or who re-enter after being driven away or being fined in the past year, would be considered to have committed “serious” criminal acts and could get up to a year in jail, the court said.
“The explanation offers legal guarantees for marine fishing law enforcement,” it added.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion of trade moves annually. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines have rival claims.
China periodically detains fishermen, especially from the Philippines and Vietnam, and Chinese fishermen also occasionally get detained by other claimants in the South China Sea.
Separately, China’s military has inaugurated a memorial to service personnel who died in clashes with South Vietnamese forces in 1974, which resulted in China cementing its rule over the Paracel Islands （Xisha Islands, 西沙群島） — which Taiwan also claims — the People’s Liberation Army Daily said.
The memorial, on Duncan Island （Chenhang Island, 琛航島）, commemorates the 18 Chinese personnel who died, the newspaper said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
