Territory - Nansha Islands
Law of the Sea

After the Philippine Congress passed a bill that spelt out the archipelagic baselines of the Philippines and claimed Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) and Nansha Islands (Spratlys) as "a regime of islands under the Republic of the Philippines", Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya delivered a "stern" protest. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement claiming "indisputable sovereignty over these islands and their adjacent waters".

Law of the Sea
Use of Force

Russian patrol guards on board a warship fired at least 500 rounds into a Hong Kong-owned cargo ship flying the Sierra Leone flag that had departed the Russian port of Nakhodka without permission, causing it to sink with eight sailors missing including seven Chinese. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Russian forces had no choice but to open fire as the ship refused to stop despite Russian warnings. Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Hui said "[t]he Chinese side cannot accept and expresses its strong dissatisfaction to the Russian side over its bombardment of the cargo ship, the lack of a prompt rescue of the downed sailors and the fact that a long time has passed with no results from the investigation." But following the expression of outrage there appeared to be little action by the Chinese Government other than asking for an explanation from Russia. Meanwhile, about 56% of China's merchant ships are reportedly flying flags of convenience to avoid paying high taxes and fees.

Human Rights

China went through the Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human Rights Council, as Ambassador Li Baodong proclaimed with a straight face, "China has never restricted freedom of speech, there is no media censorship, we guarantee full religious freedom, and journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates have full freedoms." A Working Group produced a report on China at the end of the review, which a FM spokeswoman found agreeable. "Although a few countries attempted to politicize the review and made some groundless accusations, they were rebuked by most countries," she said.

Territory - Diaoyu Islands
Use of Force

First, China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" when Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan said the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands were covered by the 1950 Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the US. Then, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone reiterated the applicability of the bilateral treaty, a point a US official later endorsed, A Chinese FM spokesman called the position "absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people". That does not mean, however, that China will fight a war against Japan and the US over Diaoyu anytime soon, as both China and Japan agreed not to let the isles dispute spill over into their overall relations.

Human Rights
Macao

Fulfilling a "sacred duty" to defend national security, the Macao legislature passed with little dissent a bill under Article 23 of the Macao Basic Law to punish crimes such as treason and subversion. The Macao bill appears to be a toned-down version compared with the infamous Article 23 bill in Hong Kong that spurred a massive protest in 2003.

Outer Space

It is amazing how great powers can do double talk with straight faces in the international arena. After criticising China for shooting down a faulty weather satellite in January 2007, the US now plans to shoot down a disabled spy satellite of its own, avowedly to prevent contamination of the toxic fuel on board. Not to be outdone in the match of hypocrisy, a Chinese FM spokesman expressed concern over the American plan and called on Washington to fulfill its international obligations and avoid threatening security in space and the security of other countries. Later, following the shootdown, China requested the US to "promptly provide to the international community the necessary information" on the shooting.

Human Rights

It is this time of the year, again, the annual ritual in hypocrisy and feigned indignation. Responding to the US State Department's annual human rights report on China, which listed China as one of a handful countries whose human rights conditions had deteriorated, criticising in particular the Government’s treatment of the Tibetan and Uighur minorities, a FM spokesman showed his environmental friendliness by reusing the Chinese response from a year ago, calling the American report "groundless and irresponsible". Meanwhile, for the tenth year in a row, the State Council Information Office faked its concern for human rights situation in America by concocting another report on the human rights record of the US.

Cultural Property

The dramatic story of the two looted bronze heads provides a most thought-provoking episode on the nature, purpose and process of international law. A group of Chinese lawyers engineered a lawsuit at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris in an attempt to prevent Christie’s from selling two bronze sculptures that were taken from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 by the pillaging French and British troops. When the French court dismissed the lawsuit on the ground that the plaintiff, the Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe (APACE). was not entitled to file the lawsuit as it had no direct links with the artifacts, China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) explicitly demanded cancellation of the auction, because "there is a common understanding in the international community that looted cultural objects should be returned to their countries" and "[t]his is a basic cultural right of people in the origin countries". After Christie's went ahead with the auction, SACH declared that the auction "will have a serious impact on Christie's development in China" and imposed limits on what the auction house could bring into, or take out of, China. When it turned out that the auction was apparently thwarted by a Cai Mingchao, a Chinese collector, "out of patriotic duty", the Chinese Government denied any prior knowledge or involvement. When Mr. Cai tried to justify his refusal to pay on the fact that SACH's new regulation on Christie's had prevented Christie's from delivering the bronzes to him, the head of SACH appeared to throw Mr. Cai under the bus, saying that the SACH regulation would not affect the return of the looted artifacts to China.