DFA on PHL activity in South China Sea: Minor fixes not large-scale construction

The Philippines has done some minor “repairs and maintenance” work in Filipino-occupied areas within the country’s exclusive economic zone which is allowed under international law unlike the massive land reclamations by China which are far from its territory and grossly violates the law, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Tuesday.

 

At the same time, Del Rosario said the Philippines will be filing a protest “as soon as possible” against China for its use of water cannon against Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal, which reportedly injured some of the men, after that has been verified by local authorities.

 

Such “use of force” on the shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc and which came under Chinese control after a 2012 standoff with the Philippines, is forbidden under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea or DOC and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, he said.

 

In an interview at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Del Rosario said he could not immediately remember the details of the “repairs and maintenance” works done by the Philippines, but suggested these were minor fixes that were done on old, existing structures in Filipino-occupied features in the West Philippine Sea.

 

“To begin with we have been doing repairs and maintenance in our own Exclusive Economic Zone,” he said in reaction to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement late Monday accusing the Philippines of violating the 13-year-old informal code of conduct that Beijing signed with the Southeast Asian governments, including Manila, in 2002.

 

In its statement, Beijing said the Philippines “has conducted large-scale construction of military and civil facilities including airports, ports and barracks” on Chinese islands “for many years.”

 

Filipino forces occupy 10 islands and reefs in the disputed Spratly islands off the South China Sea - the biggest being Pag-asa Island, where troops and civilian villagers have lived for many years. The inhabitants reside in low-slung houses often battered by storms during the rainy season.

 

The mayor of the island, Eugenio Bito-onon, initiated the construction of a small kindergarten school a few years ago for children of families living there.

 

“If I’m not mistaken, we were doing some repairs and maintenance after the DOC but repairs and maintenance is allowed. Massive reclamation is not. Building on features in terms of massive reclamation is not allowed. That is in violation of not only the DOC but the UNCLOS,” he said.

 

The Chinese reclamations, on the other hand, were first detected last year and consisted of massively dredging and sucking sand under the water and transporting them by a maze of long winding pipes onto previously submerged reefs and shoals.

 

The previously submerged features have now been transformed into islands with buildings several stories high. Some of the buildings resembled huge malls in Metro Manila, officials said.

 

A runway was being constructed in at least one feature, the Fiery Cross reef, according to the latest surveillance photos, sparking speculations they could be used as military forward bases by China’s air and naval forces.

 

China has said the massive new artificial islands would have military functions, but will also serve to support Chinese fishermen and can be platform for search and rescue.

 

The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia at least have protested China’s reclamations, fearing they could strengthen Chinese patrols and lead to Beijing’s imposition of an Air Defense Identification Zone over the South China Sea similar to the one it declared over the East China Sea that includes the Senkaku islands that’s being disputed by China and Japan.

 

China and five other governments - Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan - have been locked in long-simmering territorial rifts in the South China Sea that analysts feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.

 

Beijing insists ownership of nearly the whole of South China Sea, which is dotted by clusters of islands, cays, shoals and reefs with rich fishing areas. The vast sea is also believed to be abundant in oil and gas and is regarded as among the world’s most strategic and busiest waterways. -NB, GMA News