BY VICTOR REYES NATIONAL Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr yesterday disputed a pronouncement by Chinese President Xi Jinping that China is not bullying other nations and that China is for peace and development in the South China Sea.
Esperon, concurrent chairman of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, said China is involved in harassment incidents in the West Philippine Sea in the South China and is imposing its might to assert its claim over the disputed area. Esperon made the statements a day after two Philippine boats were again harassed by Chinese Coast Guard vessels.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III, referring to the Ayungin incidents, said China is “practically bullying” the Philippines.
“I have a tendency to think that the higher-ups of China know about this,” he said adding the Chinese Coast Guard could just have been over eager. “Yung sinasabi ng president (Xi) nila hindi daw nambu-bully ng maliit na bansa, eh sino binu-bully nila? Malaking bansa? Takot nga sila doon eh (Xi said China is not bullying small nations. Who is it bullying? The big nations that they are afraid of?),” he said.
Esperon, at the “Laging Handa” briefing, took note of Xi’s remarks during the virtual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China special summit last Monday. “President Xi Jinping said we (China) do not bully other nations. And he also mentioned peace, development in the South China.
That’s different from what’s happening on the ground,” said Esperon. In a phone interview, he cited the incident on November 16 when Chinese Coast Guard vessels blocked two Filipino boats out to deliver supplies to troops stationed at the Ayungin Shoal near Palawan. The shoal is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Two Chinese Coast Guard vessels blocked the boats while a third fired water cannons, forcing the supply boats to abort their mission and return to mainland Palawan. Last Tuesday, the same two boats returned to Ayungin Shoal and successfully delivered the supplies. A Chinese Coast Guard vessel near the shoal deployed a rubber boat with three personnel who took pictures and videos of the resupply mission.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana described the incident as a form of intimidation and harassment. “That is a statement of fact… President Xi Jinping said ‘we do not bully’ but something happened on the ground. They intruded so I’m just stating what happened on the ground,” said Esperon.
“We’re we not bullied? They said we trespassed. I’m just stating the fact, we are just stating the fact that we were blocked,” said Esperon. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian earlier justified the action of their vessels, saying the Filipino boats “trespassed” into Chinese territory.
During the press briefing, Esperon noted Ayungin Shoal is too far from China. “China said we’re trespassing, they’re ones whose trespassing,” he said, adding China was projecting might. “How are we trespassing when we are inside our (200-nautical mile) exclusive economic zone?” he said. Esperon said he also considers as a “form of harassment” the taking of pictures and videos by the Chinese of last Tuesday’s resupply mission.
Esperon said a genuine peace should prevail in the area so commerce will not be hampered. He also said there should be no “militarization, bullying and presence of many Chinese maritime militia (vessels)” in the area. Lorenzana, in a message posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday night, said China’s use of the water cannons against the Filipino boats last November 16 shoal “is an affront to the Filipino people.”
“I have told the Chinese ambassador that no one can prevent us from doing what we have to lawfully do within the West Philippine Sea, an area where we have sovereign rights by international laws,” he said. Before the supply mission sailed to Ayungin anew, Lorenzana said the Chinese envoy vowed that the Philippine boats will no longer be blocked by Chinese vessels. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has junked for “utter lack of merit” a petition seeking to compel President Duterte to protect and defend the national territory from repeated Chinese incursions.
The en banc ruling promulgated on June 29 but uploaded only on Monday said the SC has no power to compel Duterte as to what he should do to protect and defend the national territory from foreign incursions.
“The Constitution vests executive power, which includes the duty to execute the law, protect the Philippines and conduct foreign affairs, in the President — not this Court. Barring violations of the limits provided by law and the Constitution, we should take care not to substitute our exercise of discretion for his,” the ruling penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda said. — With Ashzel Hachero and Jocelyn Montemayor
