China and their new e-passport

**Monseratto** · November 28th, 2012 07:59 PM

Sana hindi ito aabot ng tit-for-tat...baka ma-affect yung millions of OFWs working in HK, China and Macau.

Philippines refuses to stamp Chinese passports
AFP
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012
MANILA - The Philippines said Wednesday it would refuse to stamp Chinese passports containing a map showing most of the China South Sea as belonging to China, as it stepped up protests over the controversial move.

The new passports have provoked angry reactions from around the region, with Vietnam, Taiwan and India all expressing their objections amid an ongoing row over Beijing's territorial claims.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that immigration personnel would stamp "a separate visa application form" instead of the Chinese passport.

"Through this action, the Philippines reinforces its protest against China's excessive claim over almost the entire South China Sea," the department said.

Stamping the Chinese passport could be "misconstrued" as legitimising China's claim over vast parts of the South China Sea, which are also claimed in part by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

President Benigno Aquino's spokesman also said Wednesday the Philippines welcomed a recent US State Department statement that it planned to raise concerns over the new Chinese passports with China.

Last week, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario sent Beijing a formal protest letter, calling the passport maps "an excessive declaration of maritime space in violation of international law".

Foreign governments became aware this month that China had begun issuing passports with maps showing a "nine-dash line" that runs almost to the Philippine and Malaysian coasts.

Vietnam has also refused to stamp the passports while India, angered that the map claims Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as Chinese territory, is stamping its own map on visas given to Chinese visitors.

**Monseratto** · November 28th, 2012 08:02 PM

Bar entry to PH of Chinese nationals with China passport map, Santiago urges gov

Bar entry to PH of Chinese nationals with China passport map, Santiago urges gov’t
By Matikas Santos
INQURER.net
5:24 pm | Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

MANILA, Philippines – The government should reject Chinese nationals entering the country with their new electronic passports featuring a map of China’s territory that includes the West Philippine Sea, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Wednesday.

Santiago said that China’s new passport is a “direct assault of our sovereignty” and “an act of aggression.”

“We will be well within our rights to deny them entry,” she said. “They cannot be allowed to go around our country bearing that offensive document.”
China had issued their new e-passports that bear an image of a map claiming the disputed West Philippines Seas.

The map shows an outline of China and includes the West Philippine Sea, hemmed in by dashes. Chinese official maps have long shown the same, but this is viewed as particularly provocative since it requires other nations to stamp it.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary Albert del Rosario had sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy calling it “excessive declaration of maritime space.”
Santiago said that she would recommend for the DFA and the Department of Justice to coordinate and instruct the Bureau of Immigration to deny entry of Chinese nationals bearing the new e-passports.

“The Philippines strongly protests the inclusion of the nine-dash lines in the e-passport, as such image covers an area that is clearly part of Philippine territory and maritime domain,” Del Rosario had said.
Several Southeast Asian nations, such as Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam, also have disputed China’s territorial claims.

Last Tuesday, the United States said it will raise concerns with Beijing over a map printed in new Chinese passports that is causing “tension and anxiety” among claimant states in the disputed South China Sea.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing it was up to countries to decide what their passports look like and the US would still accept the Chinese one as a legal document.

But she added: “That’s a different matter than whether it’s politically smart or helpful to be taking steps that antagonize countries.”
She said it was unhelpful for creating an environment for resolving the territorial disputes.

The US intervention won’t be welcomed by Beijing, which regards as meddling Washington’s advocacy for peaceful settlement of the conflicting claims in the South China Sea, a potential regional flashpoint. The US has no territorial claim itself but says it has a national interest in the stability of a region vital to global trade. With a report from AP

**CoDer** · November 28th, 2012 08:56 PM

Buwang talaga tong China o.

**threx666** · November 28th, 2012 10:35 PM

Mas maganda style nung India hehehe ,

" Ayaw namin ng version nyo , Eto version ng mapa namin , naka stamp pa ngayon sa visa nyo".

Hehehe bully talaga character ng china , ang kuuuuulit

**ZENMasterTYL** · November 29th, 2012 08:04 AM

nauna si vietnam sa hindi pag stamp sa e-passport ng china

**Monseratto** · November 29th, 2012 03:44 PM

Them crazy mainlanders....

Chinese police plan to board ships in disputed seas
BEIJING | Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:57pm EST

(Reuters) - Police in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan will board and search ships which enter into what China considers its territorial waters in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on Thursday, a move which could raise tensions further.

The South China Sea is Asia's biggest potential military trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty.

New rules, which come into effect on January 1, will allow Hainan police to board and seize control of foreign ships which "illegally enter" Chinese waters and order them to change course or stop sailing, the official China Daily reported.

"Activities such as entering the island province's waters without permission, damaging coastal defense facilities and engaging in publicity that threatens national security are illegal," the English-language newspaper said.

"If foreign ships or crew members violate regulations, Hainan police have the right to take over the ships or their communication systems, under the revised regulations," it added.

China's assertion of sovereignty over the stretch of water off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia has set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.

China occasionally detains fishermen, mostly from Vietnam, who it accuses of operating illegally in Chinese waters, though generally frees them quite quickly.

Hainan, which likes to style itself as China's answer to Hawaii or Bali with its resorts and beaches, is the province responsible for administering the country's extensive claims to the myriad islets and atolls in the South China Sea.

The newspaper said that the government will also send new maritime surveillance ships to join the fleet responsible for patrolling the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas and straddling shipping lanes between East Asia and Europe and the Middle East.

The stakes have risen in the area as the U.S. military shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a tougher stance against Beijing.

China has further angered the Philippines and Vietnam by issuing new passports showing a map depicting China's claims to the disputed waters.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)