China tells DFA: Chinese forces didn’t harass Filipino fishermen off Union Bank

China has told the Foreign Affairs Department that Chinese forces were not involved in a reported harassment of Filipino fishermen near the Union Bank in the West Philippine Sea.

This, even as Filipino diplomats told Beijing to continue its investigations and share the results with the Philippines.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the Philippine government also continues “to urge the Chinese side to refrain from the threat or use of force."

The Philippine reminder may not sit well with China, which has consistently claimed that most of the South China Sea is its sovereign territory and other non-Chinese nationals occupying features in the region or conducting fishing activities are committing a breach of their territorial rights.

"We have raised the matter with the Chinese side several times and they informed us that their investigations did not reveal any such incidents,” Bolivar said.

“We have asked them to continue the investigations and to share the results with Philippine authorities,” he added.

Union Bank, Bolivar said, is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone as mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Both Manila and Beijing, along with more than 160 states are signatories to the UN maritime treaty, which allows coastal nations the right to explore, manage and exploit resources within 200 nautical miles from their shores.

Union Bank, locally known as Pagkakaisa Bank, is a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen, and is located near Gaven Reef – one of China’s newly transformed and fortified man-made islands in the Spratlys in the South China Sea.

Filipino fishermen have complained that Chinese Coast Guard fired warning shots to drive them away from the area last March.

China and five other governments - Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan – are embroiled in long-running disputes over the South China Sea, particularly in its southern part, called the Spratlys.

Beijing insists it has historic rights over the resource-rich waters where huge minerals and natural oil and gas deposits have been discovered in several areas.

An international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands invalidated China’s claim last year.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration delivered a sweeping victory to the Philippines on the case it filed against China in 2013 under then-President Benigno Aquino III and declared China's claim over nearly the entire South China Sea as illegal.

It also ruled that Beijing violated the rights of Filipinos, who were blocked by Chinese Coast Guard from fishing in the disputed Scarborough Shoal off northwestern Philippines.

China has dismissed the tribunal ruling as a sham, saying the Netherlands tribunal has no authority to rule on the disputes, which it says is a purely bilateral issue between Manila and Beijing. — RSJ, GMA News