ARMED Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr yesterday dismissed as “propaganda” a claim of the China Coast Guard (CCG) that it drove away a Philippine Navy vessel from the contested Scarborough Shoal, also known as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, off Zambales.
Brawner said the Navy ship was “challenged,” not driven away, by a CCG vessel during a routine patrol near the shoal at around 9:30 a.m. yesterday. The Navy ship was “far” from the CCG vessel when it was challenged, he said, but could not immediately say the distance between the two ships.
“We have a Navy ship at the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc but its mission is maritime patrol. While cruising, it was challenged by a Coast Guard vessel of China,” he said.
Officials have earlier said three Chinese vessels are at the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal at any given time — two guarding the entrance of the shoal and the third doing patrol.
The CCG earlier yesterday said a Philippine Navy vessel ignored its “repeated dissuasion and warning and insisted on intruding into the waters adjacent to China’s Huangyan Island.”
Huangyan Island is the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal which is some 124 nautical miles from Zambales.
The CCG said since multiple warnings were ineffective, it took “necessary measures to drive away the Philippine ship, including forcing it out of custody and controlling the route.”
It said its actions were “professional, standardized, legitimate and legal,” as it insisted on its “indisputable sovereignty” over Scarborough Shoal and its adjacent waters.
Brawner said the Navy ship “continued (with its mission), it was not driven away.”
Asked what was the response of the Navy to the Chinese challenge was, he said the Navy ship told the Chinese vessel it was “doing maritime patrol” and did not stop or change course.
“It was challenged but our Navy ship still continued on with its maritime patrol mission… in the West Philippine Sea. It’s not true (it was driven away), that’s a propaganda of China. That remains to be our stand, it’s Chinese propaganda,” said Brawner.
Asked why the Chinese is resorting to propaganda, Brawner said, “To show that they are doing something on the ground because they are concerned with their internal audience and their leadership is just trying to project a good image.”
“And if ever we have ships there, we are not going to allow them (Chinese) to drive us away,” said Brawner, adding the shoal is well within the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone.
He said it is the government’s duty and right “to make sure that our fishermen can fish in our (exclusive) economic zone.
China gained control of the shoal after a standoff with Philippine government vessels in 2012. Since then, the Chinese have prevented Filipino fishermen from fishing inside the shoal.
MDT
If the Chinese indeed drove away a Navy ship, the incident cannot be considered an “armed attack” under 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between the Philippines and United States.
Article IV of the treaty says each party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific region on either parties “would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”
The succeeding article says an armed attack is deemed to include an “armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the parties, or on the Island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean, its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.”
CCG vessels have subjected PCG vessels to acts of harassment in the past months, including the pointing of a military-grade laser light that caused temporary blindness of crew members of a PCG vessel during a resupply mission at the Philippine-held Ayungin Shoal in February.
In August, CCG vessels also subjected to repeated water cannoning and dangerous maneuvers two PCG vessels and two military-chartered resupply boats near Ayungin Shoal. Only one of the supply boats reached the shoal to unload supplies.
Three other resupply missions at Ayungin Shoal were harassed by the Chinese after the water cannoning incident, the latest was last week. The last three resupply missions were nevertheless successful despite the harassments.
