update
BY REGINA BENGCO
PRESIDENT Aquino said Wednesday night that the Philippines is planning to file a protest before the United Nations for the series of incursions that China has committed in the South China Sea since February.
Aquino said government is completing its data and will present them first to China before submitting them to the UN.
Aquino’s move came after Manila summoned the Chinese charge d’affaires over recent sightings of a China marine surveillance vessel and other People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships and the presence of structures and buoys at the vicinity of Iroquois (Amy Douglas) Bank.
Iroquois Bank, located southwest of Reed Bank, is within the 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has said the construction of the posts and buoys by the Chinese in the vicinity of Iroquois Bank, which is 125 nautical miles from Palawan, "is a clear violation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea."
The Philippines also expressed concerned over reports from China’s state media that China is planning to install its most advanced oil rig in the South China Sea in July.
Aquino said he believes that the buoys were being placed while he and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin were meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie last May 23.
He also recalled that two Chinese ships drove away survey ships that are conducting oil exploration near Palawan. He said China also cannot claim the Reed Bank because it is undisputed Philippine territory.
He said China’s 9-dash line territorial claim over the entire South China Sea is against international laws, particularly the United National Convention of the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS).
He said he discussed with Liang the proposed Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, which includes joint exploration and exploitation of disputed islands.
"But China‘s been exploiting here. Why do we have to fight or increase all of these tensions when it profits nobody?" he said.
China, in a note verbale to the UN last April 14, accused the Philippines of "invading" the South China Sea which it claims as wholly its own.
"Since 1970s, the Republic of the Philippines started to invade and occupy some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands and made relevant territorial claims, to which China objects strongly…The Republic of the Philippines’ occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha islands as well as other related acts constitutes infringement upon China’s territorial sovereignty," it said in the note verbale.
In early April, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest against China’s 9-dash line territorial claim over the whole of South China Sea, including the Spratlys group.
The protest was lodged nearly two years after China filed its 9-dash line map to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), which other claimants Vietnam and Malaysia have also protested. Indonesia, which is not a claimant, also protested China’s map last year.
Aquino said it will not do the Philippines any good to quarrel with China because it will just heighten the tension in the region. He said talks away from the public eye seem to be more productive and China appears to be "more reasonable" in such a setting.
"If we trade allegations publicly, there will be loss of face, and they have to make a stand. The tension will just increase," he said.
"If they lose face, how will we compromise? Wala nang interest. Wala ring point na magmamatigasan tayo dito," he added.
Aquino said he will visit China in the third quarter of this year to seek a resolution of the conflict. He said other platforms of dialogue are the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii and the Asean summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the department is reviewing the military’s Coast Watch System, part of the military’s modernization program.
"We are on the verge or we are coming with (improved capability) in the area to be able to address the problem at hand. We want to get more assets to be able to provide security in the disputed areas," he said. – With Victor Reyes
