FEC Resources Inc. (FECOF)

[styl]

i found this today, the Bold paragraph explains intent and strategy of the chinese.

After receiving the report on May 26, the Navy headquarters in Manila ordered a ship deployed to the area to verify the sighting. Bad weather, however, hampered the immediate deployment of the ship to Amy Douglas.

By May 29, the Chinese vessels were no longer in the area, the posts had been dismantled and turned over to the Navy, and the buoy was no longer there.

The AFP intelligence department briefed Gazmin and Oban on the developments in the KIG on Monday and later Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

On Tuesday, the Chinese embassy official was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Cabinet’s National Security Cluster met at the Villamor Airbase regarding the incident shortly before the President left for a state visit in Brunei, and a statement was subsequently issued by the DFA.

The DFA, however, did not hand the Chinese embassy a note verbale when it summoned the charge d’affaires on Tuesday.

This was unlike the diplomatic protest it issued in March when Chinese boats ordered a Philippine seismic vessel in Reed Bank to leave, and even maneuvered close to the Philippine vessel at least twice, apparently to show they would ram it.

The diplomatic protest seen by VERA Files raised four points to prove that Reed Bank is not part of the disputed area by projecting 85 nautical miles from the basepoint in the northern part of Palawan and not from the KIG. China questioned this during meetings with the Philippines, but did not reply in a diplomatic note.

The military acknowledged its lack of capability to confront foreign enemies, but said it is ready to defend the country. But it said it prefers diplomatic means as the first option in dealing with the South China Sea dispute.

“The option open to us is first the diplomatic protest. We are in no position to confront the forces that are intruding in our territory simply because we don't have the capability,” Gazmin said.

He said the Chinese intrude into the disputed areas by initially setting up posts and then laying buoys to claim an area. The posts eventually become a lighthouse.

“Once this becomes a lighthouse these are boundaries of territories. So once that is established they can always claim that is theirs,” the defense secretary said. “That is why it is our responsibility to make sure that this doesn't happen now and in the future.”
He said the military is upgrading the capability of its maritime assets in the area to better guard the islands. “Hand-in-hand with this is the organization of our fishermen who provide us the necessary information and documentation needed to file a formal diplomatic protest,” Gazmin said.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin
for "true.")
Printer-friendly version | Send to friend | Share your views

3 comments
senators of 1990
by rpc938 on Fri, 06/03/2011 - 12:01
napakagaling ng senado natin.

in the name of sovereignty, they "kicked-out" the american bases in 1992. that same time the us bases closed, china invaded the spratly's.

we lost the spratlys in the name sovereignty.

for the most part, the americans never left as there is the vfa.

and now we dont even get rental payments.

seems our senators are either working for china or are not the wise men they project to be.