Palace shakes off claims anti-China rally to escalate territorial row

Malacañang on Saturday shook off China’s claim the rally by activists in front of the Chinese consular office in Makati City Friday may escalate and complicate the row between the Philippines and China in the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Philippine government had been very categorical that it will pursue a diplomatic tack to the problem and not escalate tension. “We hope our Chinese friends will not take this as a provocative action on the part of the Philippine government. This [protest] is a private initiative by private citizens,” she said on government-run dzRB radio. She added the Philippine side had been taking steps to de-escalate the tension and continue to pursue diplomatic solution to the situation. On the other hand, she said she cannot understand why the Chinese side finds it “weird” to take the matter to international arbitration. She said the Chinese side has not been receptive to efforts to bring the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). “I don’t know why that word was used to describe the going to ITLOS,” she said but declined to elaborate. Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday’s rally could complicate the standoff as he maintained Huangyan Island, the name China uses to refer to the disputed shoal, is an inherent part of Chinese territory. “(I)t is a false move for the Philippine side to incite the anti-China protest, which will escalate and complicate the current situation,” an article posted early Saturday on the Chinese government’s web portal quoted Hong as saying. On Friday, activists from a group allied with President Benigno Aquino III and Chinese Filipinos based in the Philippines staged a rally in Makati to score China’s “bullying” in the shoal. The disputed marine area is only 124 nautical miles off Zambales in the western part of Luzon and 472 nautical miles from China’s southern Hainan province. “Pakiusap natin sa kanila, while hindi yan mapigilan because the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is enshrined in the Constitution, nakiusap tayo sa kanila sa kanila na maging mapaypa ang kilos-protesta," Valte said. (We told the organizers that while we cannot stop them from their protests because freedom of expression is enshrined in the Constitution, we asked them to keep the rally peaceful). The row started in April when Philippine military forces spotted Chinese fishermen gathering marine species in the area. But before the crew of a Philippine Navy ship could make arrests, Chinese vessels blocked its path. On Friday, China expressed anew its concern over the security of its citizens in the Philippines and voiced hopes the Philippines will refrain from actions that will escalate tensions. Meanwhile, Valte reassured the Catholic bishops of the Philippines the government is doing everything it can to ease the tension. “Ang ginagawa natin (what we are doing) is we are not encouraging any provocative act nor are we engaging in such,” she said. — LBG, GMA News