Tag: China

Oil spill in China reported to have polluted 4,250 square kilometers On Friday, Chinas State Oceanic Administration reported that an oil spill in June from two wells in Bohai Bay has polluted 4,250 square kilometers1,650 square milesof sea, an area six times the size of Singapore. Moreover, another 3,400 square kilometers had been contaminated to a lesser degree, according to the agency.ConocoPhillips, the Houston-based operator of the wells in the Penglai 19-3 field, says only 1,500 barrels of oil had been released in the incidents and that both leaks have been brought under control. Beijing, as of the 13th of this month, maintained that oil was still coming out of the wells.Estimates of the coverage of the slick, spreading from Chinas largest offshore oil field, have been rapidly growing in recent days. At the moment, reports put its size at 18 times the area polluted by last years spill in the port of Dalian, acknowledged as Chinas worst oil leakage.Analysts say that Chinese authorities have regrettably backtracked from their openness exhibited during the Dalian disaster. Yet that spill started with a massive explosion that was impossible to hide. This year, Beijingcharacteristicallytried to cover up the June incidents.According to the South ...

Divide and conquer The Philippines has put the idea to China of trying to resolve disputes over South China Sea territory possibly rich in oil and gas through U.N. arbitration, the foreign secretary said on July 12.China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan all claim territory in the South China Sea. China's claim is the largest, forming a vast U-shape over most of the sea's 648,000 square miles (1.7 million square km), including the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos.Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he made the suggestion to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing on July 8 with regard to the Spratly Islands."I suggested that we went to the international tribunal on the law of the sea," Del Rosario told a news conference in Manila."The Philippines is prepared to defend its position in accordance to international laws consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and we asked them if they will be willing to do the same."China has insisted on handling the disputes on a one-on-one basis rather than multilaterally, a strategy some critics have described as "divide and conquer"."I don't think their position has changed," del Rosario said. "China maintains a bilateral ...

Rapid development of national economy and foreign trade As of the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan, China ranked third worldwide in terms of cargo ships with a total of 178,000, People's Daily Online reports.During the 11th Five-Year Plan, China's status as a leading power in shipping, port transportation and container traffic was dramatically enhanced. At the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan, combined deadweight capacity of cargo ships totaled 180 billion tons, which is an increase in capacity of 77 percent over that of the 10th Five-Year Plan.International Maritime Organization has nominated China as Class A members 11 times consecutively for China's prominent contribution to the development of sea transportation. Assuming more than 90 percent of China's foreign trade transportation, China's ocean shipping effectively boosted the rapid development of national economy and foreign trade.By the end of 2010, China had overtaken Korean as the number one ship-building country.Source: Portnews

They agreed to carry out a number of exchange programs such as anti-piracy drills Senior officers of the Chinese and United States armed forces agreed to conduct a series of exchange programs on Monday, but failed to iron out their differences regarding the South China Sea.Chen Bingde (R), Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), meets with Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen in Beijing, capital of China, July 11, 2011.EXCHANGE PROGRAMS LAID OUTChen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) hosted his U.S. counterpart Mike Mullen with a red-carpet welcoming ceremony Monday morning. "It's fair to say that we found a lot of common ground, although we do have different opinions on certain issues," Chen said after their closed-door talks at the PLA's headquarters in Beijing. According to a press release issued by the Defense Ministry, the two sides have agreed to carry out a number of exchange programs. Those programs range from anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden, medical and rescue drills by hospital ships and humanitarian rescue and disaster relief drills by armed forces to exchanges between senior military officers and ...

Aims to assess risks of accidents following two spills off its East Coast China's ocean administration has ordered oil companies operating offshore wells to assess risks of accidents following two spills off its east coast in a field operated by American energy giant ConocoPhillips.The State Oceanic Administration issued a notice Friday saying offshore oil producers must thoroughly investigate any risks, review their emergency planning and also reassess environmental impact from their operations.Offshore operators should learn from the accident and "comprehensively and deeply investigate oil spill risks and rectify them," it said.The spills, which covered 840 square kilometers (324 square miles) in the Penglai 19-3 oil field in Bohai Bay, drew criticism from environmentalists and local media over the potential for damage to the environment and apparent delays in notifying the public.But ConocoPhillips China, which operates seven production platforms in the Penglai area of Bohai, defended its response, saying it responded quickly to both leaks and informed authorities the day they were found.Earlier this week, Houston-based ConocoPhillips and its Chinese partner in the field, state-owned CNOOC Ltd., said both leaks have stopped and cleanup work was nearly finished.The delay in announcing details of the first leak, which was noticed June 4, ...

A report based on the above-scale 1,524 Chinese shipbuilding enterprises The total industrial output value of China's shipbuilding industry increased 25.4% year on year to RMB 302.3 billion in the first five months of this year, according to a report based on the above-scale 1,524 Chinese shipbuilding enterprises and released by the National Development and Reform Commission.Of the total output value, RMB 233.7 billion was derived from ship manufacturing, up 25% year on year, RMB 35.1 billion from supporting business of shipbuilding industry, up 35.9% year on year and the remaining RMB 30.3 billion from ship maintenance, up 16.2% year on year.In the first five months of 2011, China's shipbuilders finished 25.07 million dead weight tons of shipbuilding orders, up 6% year on year, and received 18.11 million DWT of new ship orders, down 7.8% from a year earlier. In May alone, the completed shipbuilding orders with a record 6.25 million DWT.As of the end of May, China's shipbuilding industry saw a total 184.15 million DWT of orders in hand, declining 1.1% year on year or was 6% less than that at the end of last year.During the period from January to May this year, the shipbuilding sector saw delivery ...

China has insisted it wants to resolve territorial disputes peacefully China has said a series of recent naval drills are "routine" and unrelated to simmering tensions in the South China Sea involving a range of nations with competing territorial claims.When asked about the six military exercises staged by the Chinese navy in June, including a joint drill with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun urged the media not to speculate about their purpose."China hopes all parties will treat the Chinese navy's normal exercises in an objective and rational way," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Yang as saying Wednesday. He described the drills as "routine arrangements".He said China expects all countries involved in the South China Sea disputes to "make the peace and stability of the region a priority and do more to contribute" to that outcome, according to Xinhua.China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits, while its shipping lanes are vital for global trade.Vietnam and the Philippines have in recent months accused China of taking increasingly aggressive actions in staking its claims in ...

Between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japanese coast guard vessel China's Foreign Ministry lambasted Japan yesterday after a confrontation between a Taiwanese fishing boat and a Japanese coast guard vessel near a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea."The Diaoyu Islands and attached islets have been Chinese territory since ancient times, and China has incontrovertible sovereignty over them," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a brief statement on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn)."Any actions taken by Japan in the seas around the Diaoyu Islands are illegal and invalid," he added, referring to the incident with the fishing boat.China and Japan have bickered for years over the group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which are also claimed by Taiwan.Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference in Tokyo that the Japanese Coast Guard found a Taiwanese fishing boat approaching the islands and warned the boat not to enter Japanese waters."From the viewpoints of history and international law, there is no doubt that the Senkaku islands are our inherent territory," Edano said.Source: The Peninsula

The new generation of 10,000 TEU container vessels The new generation of 10,000 TEU container vessels contracted in China by Seaspan represents major improvements in energy efficiency, cargo capacity, operational efficiency and emission reductions. The 'Susan K' was released from pirate control after 70 days in captivity. The vessel was pirated on April 8, 200 nautical miles north east of Salalah, Oman. Singapore will ratify the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) with the full support of tripartite partners.

China wants to resolve the territorial dispute peacefully China on Wednesday reiterated that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over islands in the South China Sea after the United States pledged to help the Philippines, which has its own claims in the area.A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Yang Yi, also repeated the government position that safeguarding the sovereignty of the area's potentially resource-rich islets was a "common responsibility" for Beijing and Taipei."China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters," Yang told reporters, according to an official transcript.China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits, while its shipping lanes are vital for global trade.Vietnam as well as the Philippines have in recent months accused China of taking increasingly aggressive actions in staking its claim to the disputed waters and its archipelagos.In response, China has insisted it wants to resolve the territorial dispute peacefully but remained firm in its claims to most of the South China Sea, even waters within the Philippines' economic exclusion zone.The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launched joint naval exercises ...