Chinese police plan to board vessels in disputed seas

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http://www.todayonline.com/World/China/EDC121129-0000130/Chinese-police-plan-to-board-vessels-in-disputed-seas

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 today, a move likely to add to tensions.

New rules, which come into effect on Jan 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.

The Philippines, which also has claims to parts of the South China Sea, said the move could violate international maritime laws allowing the right of passage and accused Beijing of trying to escalate tension in the area.

"That cannot be. That's a violation of the international passage (rights)," Marine Lieutenant-General Juancho Sabban, commander of military forces in the western Philippines, which covers the contested area.

"That's too much. While we are exerting all peaceful means, that is what they are doing."