China coast guard law not harmless despite envoy's claims –Hontiveros

The Philippines cannot be complacent over the Chinese government’s assurance that its new Coast Guard law is harmless, Senator Risa Hontiveros said Tuesday.

Hontiveros was responding to the statement issued by the Chinese Embassy in Manila stating that the formulation of the Coast Guard Law “is a normal domestic legislative activity of China” and that the content of the law “conforms to international conventions and the practices of the international community.”

The Chinese Coast Guard law allows Chinese forces to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea.”

“We should not be lulled into complacency by the Chinese Embassy trying to pass off China's new Coast Guard law as harmless. It is not, particularly for countries with competing claims in the South China Sea,” Hontiveros said.

“We should already be preparing for a more aggressive Beijing. Wala pa nga ang Coast Guard Law, todo na ang panghihimasok ng Tsina. Paano pa lalo ngayon? This law, and the posturing that comes with it, is injurious to the interest of Filipinos. While China can pass any law it wants, these laws cannot be used in ways that violate UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas) and international law,” she added.

Hontiverso was referring to the July 2016 Hague ruling of the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration which upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in West Philippine Sea and rejected China’s expansive nine-dash claim which claims the entirety of the area.

Having said that, Hontiveros said the passage of such Chinese Coast Guard law is a clear provocation and a militarization of China’s Coast Guard which is supposed to be a civilian institution.

“This unfounded claim of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea is illegal. China’s Coast Guard, deemed the largest in the world, can take military action disguised as enforcement of their maritime laws anywhere within this nine-dash line that has long been invalidated by international law,” she pointed out.

“This is unfortunate,” she added.

Hontiveros further argued that the refusal of the Chinese vessel Jia Geng to submit to a search by Philippine authorities within the Philippines’ territorial sea is a violation of UNCLOS.

“Inside our territorial sea, we have an unambiguous right to board and inspect. Kung COVID-19 protocols ang pag-uusapan, our law applies, not China’s. If the Chinese Embassy sincerely wants to reassure us that it is not violating international law, China should, once and for all, waive its belief of the nine-dash line, a historical claim with no legal basis,” Hontiveros said.

“China should also cease all provocations in the West Philippine Sea and in Philippine territorial waters, such as by allowing Chinese vessels to be boarded for inspection by our own Coast Guard,” she added. — DVM, GMA News