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Tensions rise near Spratlys as 5,000 US, Filipino, Oz troops work out

TENSIONS are rising in the South China Seas where Chinese sovereignty is disputed by many countries and is now challenged by US-Philippines-Australian joint naval and military exercises - and by the separate seizure of a Chinese tanker by the Vietnamese coast guard.

Vietnam claims the tanker intruded into its waters, said state media in the latest episode in the festering territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands where China is building an air base.

The tanker Qiong Yangpu was carrying 100,000 litres of oil, the official Vietnam News Agency said, adding that it had been impounded in of Hai Phong and the three-man crew detained by the police, the report said.

"It was spotted and seized by Hai Phong coast guards 12 nautical miles from the marine delineation line in the Tonkin Gulf to the northwest of Vietnam's Bach Long Vi island," the report said.

Police, military, and coast guard officials in Hai Phong declined comment. According to the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper, the tanker was selling oil to Chinese fishing boats in the area.

In another development, China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea near where a US warship sailed last year to challenge China's territorial claims.

China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

China's transport ministry held a "completion ceremony", marking the start of operations of the 55-metre (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October, Xinhua reported.

The 9,348-ton destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in October, drawing an angry rebuke from China, which called it "extremely irresponsible".

Subi Reef is an artificial island built up by China on dredged up sand over the past year or so.

Meanwhile US, Filipino and Australian forces were gathered in the Philippines for joint military exercises as a show of force to counter China's territorial claims.

More than 5,000 troops will take part in the annual Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) training exercises, which began Monday and run through April 16. Training includes amphibious warfare drills and disaster relief operations.

The exercises take place across the Philippines, including the island of Palawan near the disputed Spratly Islands, where China has built a string of artificial islands. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have competing territorial claims in the waters.

While Japan will not take part directly in the exercises, two Japanese warships and a submarine began a four-day goodwill visit to the Philippines.

It is the first time that a Japanese submarine has visited the Philippines in more than 15 years and comes a week after new laws in Japan eased long-standing restrictions on the country's armed forces.

A United Nations-sponsored tribunal in The Hague is expected to rule on a Philippines challenge to China's sovereignty claims within the next few weeks. China says the tribunal does not have authority and has boycotted the case.