Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States (US) recently doubled its legal authority (UU) on unregulated and unreported illegal fishing.
United States National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said that this law would deploy the US coast guard to the Indo-Pacific region to monitor China’s illegal fishing.
Reporting from South China Morning Post (SCMP)David Feith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Policy and Security for East Asia and the Pacific, said that to implement this law Washington would expand the number of “sending” agreements the US Coast Guard has with Asia-Pacific countries.
“This is to help counter China’s ‘aggressive behavior’ in the high seas and sovereign waters of other countries,” the media quoted the US statement as saying, Saturday (20/11/2020).
Under the “shippers” agreement codified in this latest maritime law, the authorities of one country are allowed to board another country’s law enforcement vessels or aircraft while they are on patrol. Where the state authorities can allow other countries to take enforcement action on their behalf.
But according to analysts, this US stance is somewhat unwanted by the claimants of the South China Sea (LCS). Jay L. Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Marine Law at the University of the Philippines, said Manila under President Rodrigo Duterto would not welcome joint enforcement.
“But (the Philippines) may be satisfied with sharing information about its activities at sea, and at least the last two to three years the government, especially the fisheries bureau, has actually made use of the information available from the US about fishing activities abroad in the Exclusive Economic Zone Philippines (EEZ), “he was quoted as saying Friday (20/11/2020).
So far, China, which has by far the largest fishing fleet in the world, is the main perpetrator of illegal fishing. His ships are most actively pacing back and forth in the LCS.
This created tension with many Asian countries and pushed the US in under the pretext of freedom of navigation.
According to data from the Environmental Justice Foundation, China has nearly 17,000 long-distance fishing vessels. At least 183 ships in this fleet are suspected of being involved in illegal fishing.
This latest US attack was expected. Bloomberg and Axios as written by Business Insider wrote that President Donald John Trump is indeed planning a show of strength with China before relinquishing his post as number one in January 2021.
According to the report, Trump is likely to attack China with additional sanctions on party offices and institutions involved in China’s crackdown in Hong Kong. And, those involved in the persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Trump will also fight illegal fishing and provide directions to protect US technology companies from Chinese exploitation. This week a Chinese state media editorial, Global Times said the report hinted that Trump was likely to unleash “the ultimate madness” against Beijing.
(Head / head)
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