THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it filed a diplomatic protest and summoned a Chinese Embassy official over China’s harassment and dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels doing routine and regular humanitarian missions in Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal and Panatag Shoal, last month.
It is the 20th protest made by the Philippines against China this year, and one of 153 under the Marcos administration, over the conduct of Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels that Manila maintains are militia.
The department said Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Zhou Zhiyong was summoned to formally convey the country’s protest over the latest incident of Chinese harassment, including the use of water cannons, against Philippine vessels, on April 30.
“The Philippines protested the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of China Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia vessels against the vessels of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) en route to Bajo de Masinloc,” the DFA said in a statement.
“China’s aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage to vessels of PCG and BFAR,” it added.
DFA spokesperson Undersecretary Teresita Daza said the department also “demanded that Chinese vessels leave Bajo de Masinloc and its vicinity immediately.”
The Philippines has been demanding that Chinese vessels leave Scarborough Shoal.
Aside from firing water cannons on PCG and BFAR ships, China also installed a 380-meter floating barrier at the entrance of Scarborough Shoal.
As of April 30 this year, the DFA said, Manila has filed 20 diplomatic protests against Beijing and lodged 153 since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed power in 2022.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told Manila to stop provocations, adding that the shoal, which Beijing called Huangyan Dao, has always been Chinese territory, and the Philippine vessels entered its waters without China’s permission.
Manila and Beijing have repeatedly clashed in recent months at the submerged reef, with the former saying it is located within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
China, using the so-called nine dash line (later updated to 10-dash line to include Taiwan), claims almost the entire South China Sea, setting it up against the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan which also claims parts of the waterway.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of Manila and dismissed Beijing’s sweeping claim in the disputed waters, saying that its nine-dash line has no historical or legal basis.
Beijing, however, refused to honor or abide by the arbitral ruling and pressed on with its aggressive claim in the area.
BRAVE MEN
Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, said it is
unfair to call the PCG a coward for not retaliating against China’s latest harassment.
“I’m saddened that people are criticizing the Coast Guard. They said the Coast Guard is coward,” Tarriela said in a radio interview, referring to comments of netizens on social media.
“I think it is unfair for the Philippine Coast Guard to be labelled coward because we are not retaliating with water cannons,” he also said.
If the PCG is indeed a coward, Tarriela said, it should have stopped conducting patrol and distributing food supplies and fuel to Filipino fishermen at Scarborough Shoal, about 124 nautical miles from Zambales, and it should have stopped exposing China’s acts of aggression.
“Our Coast Guard personnel are brave. Despite the danger, despite the provocations (of China), they continue to conduct patrols in the area even if they are water cannoned, even if they are rammed, risking their lives,” he said.
Tarriela said the PCG, like the public, would have wanted to use water cannons against China but the instruction of President Marcos Jr, he said, is not to deescalate the tension.
Tarriela said China may intensify its aggression against Philippine vessels if the PCG retaliates.
“They are going to have an excuse to bring in more Coast guard vessels or even PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Navy warships… We will not give them a reason to elevate the tension, bring in more vessels, PLA warships which we cannot match,” he said.
In a TV interview, Tarriela said the PCG’s actions are always guided by the President’s guidance “to (control) our temper, we should not be provoked and to still deal with them (Chinese) professionally.”
RESEARCH VESSELS
Three Chinese research vessels earlier sighted at the vicinity of Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal are no longer in the area.
AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the vessels “were found to be just passing by.”
“As of now, the three are already gone,” said Padilla when asked if the three vessels are already out of the country’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone.
Ayungin Shoal is about 108 nautical miles northwest of Rizal, Palawan.
The sighting of the research vessels was reported by Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad last Tuesday.
Trinidad said the presence of the three Chinese research vessels, along with a similar Chinese vessel in the eastern seaboard, might be China’s way of showing they are not scared by the ongoing Balikatan exercise between Filipino and American troops.
“They did not stay that long (at Ayungin Shoal),” said Padilla.
As to the research vessel Shen Kuo that was initially sighted on April 25 in Albay, Padilla said they are continuously monitoring the vessel.
The vessel was reported to be off Sulat, Eastern Samar last Tuesday morning.
“As of today, our maritime patrol mission is ongoing and so we’re waiting for the final report,” she said.
Padilla said the vessel has turned off its automatic identification system, a tracking system that shows its position.
The military earlier said the vessel could be conducting scientific research study in the area. — With Victor Reyes
