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PHL Defense chief: Redeploy ships to Panatag, keep China's claim in check 


Philippine maritime enforcement agencies must redeploy ships to keep China from invoking occupancy rights as basis for territorial claim over the disputed Panatag Shoal in West Philippine Sea, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Thursday.   Gazmin said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) must redeploy its ships to the shoal. “Why not? The Chinese are not leaving. We have to return,” the Defense chief said in a phone patch interview with reporters.   Citing bad weather, President Benigno Aquino III ordered the PCG and BFAR last Friday to pull out their ships from the shoal area.   "When weather improves, a re-evaluation will be made," said Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez.   Meanwhile, United States ambassador to Manila Harry Thomas urged the countries claiming all or parts of the South China Sea to “de-escalate.”   “We want all parties to sit down… and we oppose coercion of any nation. We support the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea…” Thomas said in the media forum, Kapihan sa Embahada. Settle by international means   Joy Yamamoto, political section counselor and acting deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in Manila, echoed Thomas.   “We have been very consistent throughout this dispute in supporting international law in settlement of dispute, so we continue to support China and the Philippines to settle the issue through international means,” said Yamamoto.   China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have territorial claims across a waterway that provides 10 per cent of the global fisheries catch and carries $5 trillion in ship-borne trade. Half the world's shipping tonnage traverses its sea lanes.   The United States, which claims national interests in the South China Sea, recently completed naval exercises with the Philippines near Scarborough Shoal.   It is stepping up its military presence in the region as part of a strategic "pivot" towards Asia after more than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Confrontation in April   The acrimonious confrontation over Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in Chinese, began in April when Beijing ordered its civilian patrol vessels to stop the Philippines from arresting Chinese fisherman working in the disputed area.   Beijing and Manila both claim sovereignty over the group of rocks, reefs and small islands about 220 kms (132 miles) from the Philippines.   The Philippines says the shoal falls within its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), giving it the right to exploit the natural resources in this area.   In the case of Scarborough shoal, Beijing says the land is Chinese territory and the waters surrounding the shoal have been China's traditional fishing grounds for generations.   "This geographic proximity argument the Philippines is using is not necessarily good in international law," says Sam Bateman, a maritime security researcher at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.   "If China can demonstrate sovereignty, its claim is as good as the Philippines'."   Under the provisions of UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), a nation with sovereignty over an island can claim a surrounding 12-nautical mile territorial sea.   UNCLOS defines an island as a natural land feature that remains above water at high tide. If the island is inhabitable, it is also entitled to an EEZ and possibly a continental shelf. Beijing's policy   However, Beijing has not claimed a territorial sea or an EEZ from any of the features of Scarborough Shoal.   Most maritime experts doubt China will agree to have any claims over the South China Sea heard by the United Nation's International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the body set up to rule on disputes.   Beijing's policy is to negotiate on the joint exploitation of natural resources in contested areas but rival claimants are reluctant to accept this formula because it could be seen as recognition of China's sovereignty.   Beijing is also increasingly wary about the Obama administration's military "pivot" to Asia designed to counter China's growing power," security experts say.   They suggest Vietnam and the Philippines have already shown greater willingness to challenge China since the US signaled a renewed interest in the region.   "They think they have the US on their side," said Bateman. —Anna Mae Lamentillo with Reuters/ELR/VS, GMA News

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