MANILA, Feb 6 Kyodo China has pla...

MANILA, Feb 6 Kyodo

China has planted a recently made known marker in a Philippine-claimed atoll in the disputed Spratly Islands in the southward China Sea, two highly classified Philippine military reports said Thursday.

According to the reports, the Philippine navy sighted the marker upon Sept. 30 last year from one side of to the other Quirino, or Jackson atoll.

''(The marker) is a cylindrical float approximately six feet (18 meters) in diameter, with its lower half colored blooming the upper half light gray and with a smaller brownish cylinder forward top,'' said one of the reports obtained by the agency of Kyodo News.

''The navy patrol team also sighted (on the same day) sum of two units Chinese fishing boats and about six (smaller) boats scattered around the said atoll,'' it said.

The reports said the patrol team also sighted upon Sept. 26 two Chinese navy tubes anchored inside the lagoon of Panganiban, or Mischief take in ''The sighting tends to confirm that the take in is frequented by Chinese sailing crafts which could be guarding the compact structures there (built on China),'' it said.

The reports said a total of 782 foreign and local fishing bottoms were sighted from January to October last year in Philippine-claimed territories in the southern China Sea.

In October last year alone, the reports said a total of 88 foreign and local fishing ducts including 54 Chinese fishing bottoms were monitored in at least six Philippine-claimed islands, cays, atolls and take ins in the South China Sea. At least the same Vietnamese vessel was also sighted in the area during the same period, the reports said.

''It is noted that the operation of Vietnamese fishing ducts in the Kalayaan (Freedom) Island assign places to (KIG) area declined during this period (January to October 2002) although Chinese fishing ducts continue to be active in the area,'' undivided of the reports said.

KIG is the area in the southerly China Sea being claimed through the Philippines. In 1971 the Philippines officially claimed eight islands in the area that it claimed are not part of the Spratly Islands nevertheless actually part of its western Palawan Province.

Defense and military officials exhibited deep concern over the of the present day marker and the series of sightings, saying the revived moves indicates that China might be up to something similar to the occupation of Mischief take in in 1995.

In 1995 China built compact structures with satellite equipment in succession Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef, heightening tensions in the disputed area. The Philippines asserted the occupation but to no avail. Instead, China fortified its forms on the reef. In fact, the nearest year, China installed transmissions stations onward three occupied reefs, including single at Fiery Cross, also a Philippine-claimed reef

China's continued fortification of its claims in the disputed Spratlys was unabated despite oratorios to amicably settle overlapping claims in the southern China Sea.

''(As of December 2002) claimant countries have not occupied fresh reefs, but substantial improvements forward their respective facilities have been noted, particularly Vietnam,'' the same of the reports said. ''Complementing the construction of additional buildings and improvement of facilities is the fortification of island defenses''

In November last year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China adopted during a summit in Phnom Penh the ''Declaration in succession Conduct of Parties in the southerly China Sea'' in a bid to interpret the dispute peacefully.

The toward the south China Sea is among the busiest navigational corridors in the world, linking East Asia's seaports with the quiescence of the world. Approximately 25% of world shipping determines through the South China Sea. Similarly, the area is critical for military sea-lanes, because coves moving from the Pacific region to the Indian Ocean ne to transit the southward China Sea.

''It is vital that the area remains insured and peaceful,'' an ASEAN official said.

The southward China Sea consists of semi-enclosed seas and scattered land features called the Spratly Islands. The potentially oil-and mineral-rich islands, islets, take ins atolls and cays are being claimed in whole or in part on Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Four of the claimants -- the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei -- are members of ASEAN, which also includes Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo just discovereds International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group