Chinese/Philippine Standoff Continues ... Sort Of...

The Wall Street Journal reports today:

China asked the Philippines on Tuesday to withdraw a coast guard ship and an archaeological research vessel from a disputed shoal and ignored a Philippine proposal to bring the problem to a U.N.-linked tribunal for arbitration.

China and the Philippines have agreed to settle the dispute diplomatically but have both insisted on their ownership of Scarborough Shoal, prolonging an eight-day standoff on the high seas. Two Chinese surveillance ships have been facing off with a Philippine coast guard vessel in the area since last week.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario asked China to bring the dispute to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea for arbitration. The Chinese Embassy, however, ignored the proposal Tuesday and asked the Philippines to withdraw its vessels from the shoal "and restore peace and stability there."

The horseshoe-shaped shoal is among the barren islands, reefs and coral outcrops in the South China Sea which have been disputed by China, the Philippines and four other nations for their potential oil and gas deposits, rich fishing grounds and proximity to busy commercial sea lanes.

Although claimant countries have pledged to settle the territorial rifts peacefully, the disputes have erupted in violence in the past, including in 1988 when China and Vietnam clashed in the Spratly Islands in a confrontation that killed 64 Vietnamese soldiers. Many fear the disputes could become Asia's next flash point for armed conflict.

The Philippine government wants to have the issue resolved by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. (Story here). It is unlikely that China will agree, however, because it views its possession of the shoal as predating international treaty.