Foreign affairs: Who’s in charge here?

FBY RICARDO SALUDO

So, some seasoned government watchers must have been puzzled when Secretary Lorenzana last protest over reported Chinese militarization in the Spratlys.

The defense chief was doing his job monitoring Chinese construction of facilities on reclaimed land at Fiery Cross Reef, which might have military uses. But the diplomatic action over the island activi of Foreign Affairs, not the Depart

There’s more. Just last weekend, Secretary Lorenzana reportedly sided with the United States when China decried the sailing of a US guided-missile destroyer near Scar

Asked if the Philippines was concerned about the USS Hopper sailing near the shoal, Secretary as they are on innocent passage. International law allows innocent

Not-so-innocent passage

what it calls freedom of navigation waters claimed by China, like the area within 12 nautical miles, or 22.22 kilometers, from Scarborough Shoal. The fonops show that Washington does not recognize Beijing’s territorial claims.

So, the USS Hopper was not entirely innocent in sailing near the shoal, since it was out to challenge China’s assertion of sovereignty. But it was not defending or advancing Philippine sovereignty, since Washington does not intervene in our territorial disputes.

Hence, it was a China-US matter, plain and simple, and how the Philippines responded to it was a matter under President Rodrigo Duterte’s independent foreign policy of maintaining neutrality and cultivating good relations with all major powers, taking sides is best avoided.

As news headlines declared, however, Secretary Lorenzana “de whose waters he is referring to? Since China was the one objecting to the US warship, most people would think Secretary Lorenzana referred to Chinese territorial waters around the shoal.

In fact, the Philippine position is that Scarborough Shoal is our territory, and China has no right to protest sailings of any vessels around the shoal. Moreover, the Law of the Sea, or Unclos, does not accord territorial waters to shoals and other marine outcrops.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Batongbacal, both international law professors at the University of the Philippines, asserted that the shoal was Philippine territory.

Batongbacal defended the USS Hopper’s freedom of navigation, while Secretary Roque declined to take sides: “We do not wish to be

A US push to revive EDCA?

to media, however, one leading newspaper headlined: “PH defends ‘innocent passage’ of US warship more Lorenzana statements seeming to show the Philippines disputing China and supporting America.

That was certainly his perspective a year ago, when he announced a US plan to build facilities on Philippine bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). - troversy over Chinese research at Benham Rise, now Philippine Rise.

President Rodrigo Duterte had to intervene. He erupted over possible US nuclear weapons brought into Philippine bases. The US Embassy denied it, but that stalled US construction of base facilities. And the President disclosed that he gave permission for Chinese research in Benham Rise.

criticizing China, even with burgeoning ties under President Duterte. Would this lead to renewed warnings about China and calls to implement the EDCA? After all, Washington needs air and naval bases in the country more than ever, for possible

Other prominent figures have lately called for a tougher stance against Beijing. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who spearheaded the winning case in The Hague against China’s “nine-dash China Sea, recently said the government should not allow new Chinese research in Philippine Rise since Beijing won’t accept the July 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

Alejano said that the DFA recently allowed a research ship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but rejected a French foundation seeking permission, supposedly in the same area.

It turned out that the French re in Palawan, as Secretary Cayetano put it. Its vessel was also too small to accommodate a Filipino scientist, as required by the DFA and agreed by China. UP researchers will be on board the Chinese ship.

As for the PCA ruling, Secretary Roque, a professor in international law, said that the decision is binding and valid even if Beijing rejects it.

But more important, President Duterte’s reversal of his predecessor’s rabidly anti- China, pro- US policy has eased tensions, and led the Chinese to halt reclamation in the Spratlys, and allow Filipino fishermen back to Scarborough analysts see as compliance with The Hague decision.

threats, most Filipinos would be scared to host American forces likely to be targeted by Pyongyang.

But the US and its supporters won’t stop trying to get the EDCA going. And the Seventh Fleet’s freedom of navigation operations could do just that.

Fonops stir up Beijing and escalate tensions. And China’s People’sDaily newspaper, the country’s largest, has warned of massive military build-up

So, if Washington sends more USS Hoppers to raise the temperature, Beijing may just take the bait and deploy more ships, planes and missiles, or even impose restrictions like it declared over the East China Sea near Japan in 2013.

All the more reason to keep cool heads in Asian capitals, and get the Code of Conduct between our region and Beijing done fast.