8 BIZ GROUPS TO CHINA: RESPECT PHL RIGHTS

SEVERAL business groups called on Chinese authorities to respect the Philippines’s sovereignty as Beijing’s vessels have remained in Julian Felipe Reef despite the area being located within the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Kalayaan Island Group.

On Wednesday, eight business groups released a joint statement backing Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, other government officials and several organizations who are calling on the Chinese ships to depart the EEZ.

“We call on the Chinese authorities to respect the sovereignty of the Philippines and other neighboring countries for it is only through peaceful co-existence that we can achieve prosperity for all,” the business groups said.

These include the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Bishops-businessmen’s Conference for Human Development, Filipina CEO Circle, Judicial Reform Initiative, Cebu Business Club and Iloilo Business Club Inc.

The joint statement highlighted that Julian Felipe Reef is indeed a Philippine territory, noting the 2016 ruling of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (Unclos).

“Our exclusive right over the Julian Felipe Reef carries with it the utilization of, and the obligation to protect, its economic benefits, such as its rich marine life and mineral deposits, for the well-being of each and every Filipino,” the business groups said.

“China and the Philippines share many things in common including being subjugated by colonizers and having their natural resources plundered,”they said. “Now that China is strong economically and militarily, we call on China to refrain from becoming an imperial power.”

On Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, expressing the agency’s “displeasure” over the “illegal lingering presence”of Chinese ships in said location.

The presence of said Chinese vessels in the Julian Felipe Reef has been causing“regional tension,”dfa Acting Undersecretary Elizabeth P. Buensuceso told Ambassador Huang.