PH watching China's actions on South China Sea nature reserve — Brawner

The Philippines is closely watching China's actions after Beijing said it would establish a nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, Philippines' Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner said on Friday.

Manila has called China's plans for a reserve at the shoal a "clear pretext for occupation," and Brawner said it was important that there was not a repeat of what had happened at Mischief Reef, also called Panganiban Reef by the Philippines.

“We are watching what China is doing in Scarborough. And if you recall, in 1995, in Mischief Reef, they built a small structure that they called Fisherman's Haven. And in fact, they said anybody can use it. And so we allowed them to do that,” Brawner said at a forum.

“Later on, they built it into an artificial island. A militarized island that is now equipped with missile systems, radar systems, a big airfield that could accommodate jet fighters and even cargo planes, and so on. So we do not want that to happen to Scarborough Shoal. Hindi po tayo papayag na mangyari ‘yun (We will not allow that to happen),” he added.

Should China do so with the Scarborough Shoal, Brawner said among the several options the Philippines could take is to file a diplomatic protest.

“But we are watching so that we will not have a repeat of Mischief Reef,” he said.

The Philippines claims Mischief Reef, which is within its Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea, but China occupied in the 1990s and has since built a military base on it.

Last month, China announced it had approved the creation of a national nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal, saying it was an "important guarantee" to preserve the atoll's ecosystem.

The Philippines also refers to Scarborough Shoal as Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc. — Reuters with RSJ, GMA Integrated News