WPS disinformation campaign among challenges PH faces –DFA

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) warned that the propaganda campaign designed to confuse the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea was also one aspect of the disagreement. 

According to a report by Jun Veneracion in 24 Oras Weekend on Saturday, to counter the propaganda,  the Philippine government anchored its position on the territorial dispute on the 2016 arbitration ruling and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We must expose the illegality of the nine-dash line that is being used as the basis for threatening the livelihoods of our fishermen," the DFA said in a statement read by Assistant Secretary Marshall Louis Alferez. "We should not allow ourselves to be tainted as the aggressors or the violators.”

The DFA emphasized that it was clear who was violating international law in the West Philippine Sea.

“We categorically reject the excessive claims and aggressive actions by the People’s Republic of China in the WPS, where they stand in stark opposition to the rule of law and the very principles that ensure peace and stability in our region,” the DFA added. 

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard shared the same sentiments regarding China’s actions. 

“China is just violating international law and they are blatant offenders of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. All of their actions that they are doing there are just basically unlawful actions,” said PCG spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela in a chance interview with reporters. 

The China Coast Guard recently fired water cannons on Philippine civilian vessels sailing to Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc to deliver aid to Filipino fishermen. 

The PCG said the pressure of the water cannons could be “fatal.” 

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and his counterparts from the US, Japan, and Australia issued a joint statement on Saturday condemning China’s "dangerous use" of coast guard and militia vessels amid the tension in the West Philippine Sea.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila regarding the matter. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/DVM, GMA Integrated News