Lorenzana: China's new law allowing Coast Guard to shoot increases chance of conflict

The new law in China allowing the China Coast Guard to shoot at foreign vessels in disputed waters, including Manila-claimed West Philippine Sea, could result to an open conflict, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.

“I'm very concerned about this law because it might cause miscalculations and accidents there especially that they are now allowed to fire at foreign vessels,” Lorenzana said in an interview on CNN Philippines.

“The Coast Guard of the Chinese are patrolling the disputed area, the same as our Coast Guard and Navy ships, so the chance of accident and miscalculation is great…It might cause an open conflict,” he added.

China's new law allows its 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.”

Lorenzana said the Philippines will consult with its allies on how to handle the situation with the new law as the US and other claimants continue to patrol the disputed waters.

Despite the new law, Lorenzana encouraged Filipino fishers to keep on fishing in their “traditional” fishing areas in the disputed territory.

He clarified that fisherfolk are not the concern of China’s new law but only armed foreign vessels.

Fishers group Pamalakaya earlier vowed to oppose the new law that allows the China Coast Guard to shoot at foreign vessels in disputed waters.

Some senators also expressed alarm over China’s new Coast Guard law.

However, in a statement, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said the new law complies with international law. It denied claims that the measure was a threat of war.

In 2013, the Philippines challenged China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, and won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing’s claim it owns the South China Seas nearly in its entirety.

Rejecting the ruling, China says its claims have historical basis and are “indisputable” despite encroaching on the territories of its smaller neighbors like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

China has also claimed and developed some features in parts of the South China Sea, called the West Philippine Sea by Manila. —KG, GMA News