HIGH-LEVEL talks between the Philippines and China will resume this month following a series of confrontations in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in the South China Sea.
Foreign Affairs Secretary f Enrique Manalo said China will host the Bicameral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) between senior Philippine and Chinese officials, which aims to ease tension in the disputed area.
Manalo declined to provide details of the upcoming talks but said the recent ramming incidents at Escoda Shoal, also known as Sabina Shoal, will be “hopefully” among the thorny issues that will be tackled.
Escoda Shoal is some 75 nautical miles or about 140 kilometers off Palawan and is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
On August 31, a Chinese coast guard vessel repeatedly rammed the Philippine Coast Guard’s offshore patrol ship BRP Teresa Magbanua at Escoda Shoal, causing damage to Philippine ship.
On August 19, Chinese vessels “collided” with Philippine ships near Escoda while the latter were on resupply run to Latag and Lawak islands.
On August 25, Chinese vessels also rammed and fired water cannons at a multi-mission ship of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources near Escoda Shoal.
The last BCM was hosted by Manila last July. Out of it came a “provisional agreement” to deescalate tension and prevent clashes at Ayungin Shoal where the Philippine Navy maintains a small detachment onboard the Navy ship BRP Sierra Madre.
The Navy vessel was grounded at the shoal in 1999 to prevent China from occupying the area.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines as the West Philippine Sea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s sweeping claim under its so-called nine dash line, saying it has no legal or historical basis, but Beijing refused to abide by the arbitral ruling.
ANOTHER NOTE VERBALE
The Department of Foreign Affairs has sent a 43rd note verbale to Beijing to protest the repeated ramming incidents since January this year.
The DFA did not say when the latest note verbale was sent.
China’s aggressive actions have been repeatedly condemned by Manila’s allies including the United States, Japan, European Union, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Canada and Germany.
Last month, the DFA filed a diplomatic protest with Beijing after two Chinese fighter jets dropped flares on the path of a Philippine Air Force aircraft conducting routine aerial patrol at the Bajo de Masinloc, also called Scarborough Shoal and Panatag Shoal.
China, however, justified its actions and insisted that Escoda Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc are part of its territorial waters.
Beijing regularly blames the Philippines for incidents in the West Philippine Sea – the part of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf – and has claimed that the country is acting on behalf of the United States and other Western countries.
‘SEA CONTROL’
The military ruled out invasion as for the recent surge in the number of Chinese vessels at several features in the WPS.
Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, Navy spokesman for the WPS, said the surge is part of China’s goal to gain “sea control” of the entire South China Sea.
At least 203 Chinese vessels (165 maritime vessels, 24 Coast Guard vessels, 12 Navy ships, two research and survey vessels) have been monitored at seven features in the WPS from August 27 to September 2, compared to 163 the previous week.
Seventy-one of these vessels were sighted at Escoda Shoal which is just 70 nautical miles from mainland Palawan.
“That is not their intention. The intent of the Chinese Communist Party is sea control of the vast expanse of the South China Sea,” Trinidad said.
He said China wants to control the area because it is “critical to their flow of commerce and trade.”
“They want to ensure the flow of their international trade… is uninterrupted… They have no intent to occupy forcefully or to invade Palawan or the country,” he said.
Trinidad also said China’s “expansionist ambitions” began in the 1990s as he noted China’s reclamation of reefs, which he said are now “militarized areas,” in 2011 to 2012.
“Now, they would like to push further and they are using their enablers, their force multipliers which are neither gray, neither white, meaning it’s not Coast Guard, it’s not Navy,” he said.
Trinidad was referring to fishing boats which have been commissioned as militia under the Chinese Military Commission.
NOT ALARMING
Trinidad said the number of Chinese vessels in these areas is not yet alarming, noting that China’s South Sea Fleet has over 400 vessels, submarines, and maritime militia vessels.
“We are not alarmed. I would say that we are concerned with the increased numbers,” said Trinidad.
“We are watching this with concern. We monitor them. We perform regularly our mandate of conducting maritime patrols and surveillance flights,” said Trinidad.
He said the military issue challenges to the Chinese vessels and to other foreign vessels monitored inside the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“We challenge them, we tell them that they are within the EEZ of the Philippines and if they do not leave, we make the appropriate reports (to higher authorities). We’ve made so many reports to concerned government agencies,” he said.
Trinidad said the military will continue to conduct regular patrols in the West Philippine Sea amid the increasing presence in the area and aggressions by the Chinese.
“They are within our exclusive economic zone and we have sovereign rights over our exclusive economic zone,” said Trinidad.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr and his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin III, spoke by phone on Wednesday and tackled the latest Chinese harassment in the West Philippine Sea.
“Both officials discussed the importance of preserving the rights of all nations to fly, sail, and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” said a readout issued by Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
“Secretary Austin reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the Philippines following recent dangerous and escalatory actions by the People’s Republic of China against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea,” the readout added. — With Victor Reyes
