China details stance on continental shelf

The Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN has presented a note to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In the note, China urges the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf not to review the joint submission of information by Malaysia and Vietnam. The two countries presented on Wednesday a joint submission to the UN on the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.





TheChinesePermanentMissiontotheUNhaspresenteda
notetotheUNSecretary-GeneralBanKi-moon.Inthenote,
ChinaurgestheCommissionontheLimitsoftheContinental
Shelfnottoreviewthejointsubmissionofinformationby
MalaysiaandVietnam.

The Chinese government said in its note presented a day later that the submission by Malaysia and Vietnam infringes upon China's sovereignty and jurisdiction in the South China Sea. And China urges the UN commission not to consider the case in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and relevant UN rules.

UN urges humanitarian pause in Sri Lanka

The UN humanitarian chief, John Holmes, has asked Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for a "humanitarian pause" in fighting with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

UnitedNationsUndersecretary-GeneralforHumanitarian
AffairsJohnHolmes(L)shakeshandswithSriLankan
PresidentMahindaRajapaksabeforetheirmeetingin
ColomboApril27,2009.
REUTERS/SriLankanGovernment/Handout

He says this would allow trapped civilians to escape or at least emerge from their bunkers to forage for food.

The UN humanitarian chief met the Sri Lankan President in Colombo on Monday.

Holmes said humanitarian organizations are dealing with "two crises simultaneously". One is trying to free those people still trapped in the war zone, and another "dealing physically with all the people who got out about a week ago".

Sri Lanka agreed to stop firing heavy weapons into the northern war zone to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped there.