By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR
GMA News
The Philippine government on Tuesday filed a
diplomatic protest against China for preventing its two vessels carrying
supplies and personnel from going to Philippine-controlled Ayungin
Shoal off the South China Sea last Sunday.
In a move seen to further increase tensions between the two Asian neighbors locked in a long-seething territorial rivalry to the resource-rich waters, the Department of Foreign Affairs summoned Chinese Embassy’s deputy envoy to hand over the protest, expressing the Philippines’ objection to China’s actions.
“China’s actions constitute a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Hernandez told a press briefing.
Manila, in its note verbale or diplomatic note, told China to “desist from any further interference from the efforts of the Philippines to undertake rotation and re-supply operations at Ayungin Shoal.”
Malacañang, for its part, said it will be “guided” by the recommendation of the DFA.
“We cannot be cavalier in the appreciation of the facts dahil importanteng issue ito,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press conference.
Coloma noted the government will continue to defend the sovereignty of the Philippines.
“Kinakailangang i-assert natin yung mga principles na ating itinataguyod na kung saan naman ay meron din tayong mga kasangga na kapwa miyembrong bansa ng ASEAN, ang ating strategic partners: ang Estados Unidos at ang Japan,” he said.
First in over a decade
Hernandez said this is the first time that China blocked a Philippine supply mission and personnel rotation to Ayungin in 15 years.
In response, the summoned Chinese official, Hernandez said, rejected the Philippine protest, maintaining that Beijing has “jurisdiction and indisputable sovereignty” of the shoal, which is located off the Philippines’ western coast.
A Philippine Naval vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre, has been grounded at the shoal since 1999. The Philippines posted seven navy personnel there to guard the territory, which is 105.77 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine province of Palawan and constitutes part of the country’s 200-nautical mile continental shelf as provided under the UNCLOS.
UNCLOS is a 1982 accord by 163 countries that aims to govern the use of offshore areas and sets territorial limits of coastal states. The Philippines and China are both signatories to the treaty.
Hernandez said the incident happened around 9:30 a.m. of March 9 wherein the two civilian vessels contracted by the Philippine Navy were trailed by two Chinese Coast Guard Vessels with numbers 3112 and 3113.
Thirty minutes later, the Chinese ships tried to block and prevent the Philippine vessels to proceed to Ayungin Shoal, Hernandez said.
Then at 12:40 p.m., Hernandez said the Chinese Coast Guard demanded the Philippine vessels through a digital signboard, sirens and megaphones “to leave the area,” saying the shoal—also known by its international name Second Thomas Shoal—“is part of their jurisdiction.”
After nearly two hours or at 2:30 p.m., Hernandez said the Philippine vessels decided to abort the re-supply mission and the rotation of personnel in Ayungin Shoal and went back to Palawan.
PHL protests
Manila’s protest against China is its second in two weeks. The Philippines on Feb. 25 accused China of harassing a group of fishermen off the Scarborough Shoal – another Philippine-claimed feature in the South China Sea now being controlled by China after a standoff in 2012.
The South China Sea, a strategic waterway where a bulk of the world’s trade pass and believed to be rich in oil and natural gas, had been a source of conflict among competing claimants the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan. Analysts feared the competing claims could spark a military conflict in the region.
Parts of the waters that fall within the Philippines’ territory have been renamed West Philippine Sea to assert its claim.
China claims the waters nearly in its entirety, citing historical entitlements as the basis for its huge claim, which Manila branded as “excessive and a violation of international law.”
The Philippines challenged this claim before a United Nations arbitral tribunal, where a resolution is pending. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/352044/news/nation/phl-protests-china-s-blocking-of-phl-vessels-at-ayungin-shoal
Ayungin Shoal
In a move seen to further increase tensions between the two Asian neighbors locked in a long-seething territorial rivalry to the resource-rich waters, the Department of Foreign Affairs summoned Chinese Embassy’s deputy envoy to hand over the protest, expressing the Philippines’ objection to China’s actions.
“China’s actions constitute a clear and urgent threat to the rights and interests of the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Hernandez told a press briefing.
Manila, in its note verbale or diplomatic note, told China to “desist from any further interference from the efforts of the Philippines to undertake rotation and re-supply operations at Ayungin Shoal.”
Malacañang, for its part, said it will be “guided” by the recommendation of the DFA.
“We cannot be cavalier in the appreciation of the facts dahil importanteng issue ito,” Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press conference.
Coloma noted the government will continue to defend the sovereignty of the Philippines.
“Kinakailangang i-assert natin yung mga principles na ating itinataguyod na kung saan naman ay meron din tayong mga kasangga na kapwa miyembrong bansa ng ASEAN, ang ating strategic partners: ang Estados Unidos at ang Japan,” he said.
First in over a decade
Hernandez said this is the first time that China blocked a Philippine supply mission and personnel rotation to Ayungin in 15 years.
In response, the summoned Chinese official, Hernandez said, rejected the Philippine protest, maintaining that Beijing has “jurisdiction and indisputable sovereignty” of the shoal, which is located off the Philippines’ western coast.
A Philippine Naval vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre, has been grounded at the shoal since 1999. The Philippines posted seven navy personnel there to guard the territory, which is 105.77 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine province of Palawan and constitutes part of the country’s 200-nautical mile continental shelf as provided under the UNCLOS.
UNCLOS is a 1982 accord by 163 countries that aims to govern the use of offshore areas and sets territorial limits of coastal states. The Philippines and China are both signatories to the treaty.
Hernandez said the incident happened around 9:30 a.m. of March 9 wherein the two civilian vessels contracted by the Philippine Navy were trailed by two Chinese Coast Guard Vessels with numbers 3112 and 3113.
Thirty minutes later, the Chinese ships tried to block and prevent the Philippine vessels to proceed to Ayungin Shoal, Hernandez said.
Then at 12:40 p.m., Hernandez said the Chinese Coast Guard demanded the Philippine vessels through a digital signboard, sirens and megaphones “to leave the area,” saying the shoal—also known by its international name Second Thomas Shoal—“is part of their jurisdiction.”
After nearly two hours or at 2:30 p.m., Hernandez said the Philippine vessels decided to abort the re-supply mission and the rotation of personnel in Ayungin Shoal and went back to Palawan.
PHL protests
Manila’s protest against China is its second in two weeks. The Philippines on Feb. 25 accused China of harassing a group of fishermen off the Scarborough Shoal – another Philippine-claimed feature in the South China Sea now being controlled by China after a standoff in 2012.
The South China Sea, a strategic waterway where a bulk of the world’s trade pass and believed to be rich in oil and natural gas, had been a source of conflict among competing claimants the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, China and Taiwan. Analysts feared the competing claims could spark a military conflict in the region.
Parts of the waters that fall within the Philippines’ territory have been renamed West Philippine Sea to assert its claim.
China claims the waters nearly in its entirety, citing historical entitlements as the basis for its huge claim, which Manila branded as “excessive and a violation of international law.”
The Philippines challenged this claim before a United Nations arbitral tribunal, where a resolution is pending. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/352044/news/nation/phl-protests-china-s-blocking-of-phl-vessels-at-ayungin-shoal
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