Manila: China proposals to ease sea tensions contrary to its interests

THE PHILIPPINES’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said it had received proposals from China to ease tensions in the South China, but these went against the Southeast Asian nation’s interests.

“While a few proposals were deemed somewhat workable, many of the remaining Chinese proposals were determined, after careful study, scrutiny and deliberation within the Philippine government, to be contrary to our national interests,” it said in a statement. “In no way did the Philippine government ignore China’s proposals.”

The DFA was responding to a Manila Times news report quoting an unnamed Chinese official who had claimed China’s proposals to settle tensions in the waterway were “met with inaction” by Manila.

China had presented 11 concept papers on possible solutions to ease tensions in the South China Sea, which the Philippine government allegedly ignored, according to the story published on Monday.

The DFA said the agreements to settle differences in the South China Sea must abide by the Philippine Constitution, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and a 2016 arbitral award voiding China’s claims on the waterway.

The Philippine government had also presented counterproposals, which China rejected, the DFA said.

China claims more than 80% of the South China

Sea based on a 1940s map, which a United Nations-backed arbitration court voided in 2016.

The Philippines has been unable to enforce the ruling and has since filed hundreds of protests over what it calls encroachment and harassment by China’s coast guard and its vast fishing fleet.

Tensions in the South China Sea have intensified after incidents of the Chinese coast guard firing water cannons at Philippine vessels and blocking resupply missions to a dilapidated World War II-era ship at Second Thomas Shoal.

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week called on his country’s armed forces to coordinate preparations for military conflicts at sea and help in the development of the maritime economy.

In December, the Philippine Senate passed on third and final reading a bill that seeks to boost the country’s defense program through investments in local defense equipment manufacturing.

“Instead of considering the Philippine counterproposals, however, the Chinese side presented its own counterproposals, which again did not reflect our interests, especially on issues such as the South China Sea,” the DFA said.

Meanwhile, China said any plan for resource exploitation in the South China Sea should not involve countries outside the region, as the Philippines counts on the United States and its allies for gas and oil exploration.

“The exploration of resources in the South China Sea should not harm China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and no one shall draw forces outside the region into the issues,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, told a news briefing in Beijing on Monday, based on a transcript.