DFA CHIEF TRAINS SIGHTS ON CHINESE FIRMS INVOLVED IN SCS RECLAMATION
THE Philippines will terminate its relationship with any Chinese company that was involved in the massive island-building reclamation conducted by China in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. said on Friday.
He made the remark one day after the United States slapped more trade sanctions on other Chinese entities, this time on those that were involved in the SCS dredging and construction that scientists said had damaged huge swathes of marine resources. The trade sanctions bar US companies from exporting products to the targets.
Locsin made his warning during a Zoom interview with Pinky Webb on CNN Philippines: “Yes, if I find that any of those companies are doing business with us, then I would strongly recommend we terminate our relationships with that company, if in any way involved in the reclamation.”
According to Locsin, the move to cease doing business with those companies that have contributed to the damage of marine resources in the SCS “becomes consistent within our part to terminate any contract with them.”
He added, “Of course, since the contracts have already been entered into, they could sue as back.”
However, Locsin added that he had to consult Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to find out the names of the alleged companies that directly deal with the Chinese SCS projects.
The United States estimates that China had dredged about 3,000 acres to convert undersea features that were made into military fortresses in the contested waters.
The UP Marine Sciences Department estimates that from 2013 until today, the reclamation continues, “destabilizing the region, trampling on some countries sovereign rights, and causing massive environmental devastation.”
The UP study said the damage on reefs along is estimated at P33 billion and the total estimated area since 2013 is estimated at P231 billion.
The Trump administration added 24 Chinese companies to a trade blacklist for helping China build islands in the SCS, which the United States has labeled as an illegal attempt to control an important shipping route. These firms, Washington said, “must be held responsible” and that individuals connected to these firms, including their immediate family members, will be barred from entering the US.
It is estimated that some $5 trillion worth of goods sail through the SCS every year.
Trump’s blacklist, known as Entity List, is his administration’s crackdown tool on China, which now includes more than 300 Chinese entities.
China, which claims a major part of the SCS as its territory, has beefed up its defenses in the strategic waters, building barracks, runways and radar installations, according to various reports through the years.
Satellite photographs indicate that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has also installed surfaceto-air missiles in these areas, triggering concerns from countries, such as the US, Japan and Australia.
The Philippines in 2013 challenged China’s legal basis for its “excessive claim” in the SCS before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, and won the case in a landmark decision in 2016, invalidating Beijing’s historic assertions.
The Asian giant did not participate in the arbitration and either ignored or belittled the ruling, maintaining “indisputable” and “historical” claim over nearly the entire waters, which impinge a number of littoral states like the Philippines and Vietnam.
Locsin was grateful that former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario filed the case in the Hague during the Ninoy Aquino presidency, but said he would ignore del Rosario’s proposal to bring the PCA’S 2016 ruling before the United Nations again to get more support for its implementation.
“I am going to completely ignore his suggestion ... because when you win something you do not appeal your victory; this is what del Rosario wants me to do,” the DFA chief said.
Locsin said he would not follow del Rosario’s suggestions because “China has the numbers there [the UN], and it’s about numbers, it’s not about law.”
He added, “And I can’t afford to lose our arbitral award, I don’t want to go down as the guy who lost it.”
Asked about another suggestion by del Rosario, backed by former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, to seize Chinese assets in compensation for the damages in the West Philippine Sea, Locsin said he had first to study the UP finding.
On the other hand, the Harvard-educated lawyer said he had to consult with international lawyers also on what can be done about those claimed damages, “but I can assure you there is no hesitation on my part if I have the law on my side.”
According to the DFA chief, “as a country without any independent means to protect its own interests, it is imperative that we always rely on one thing, precision in facts, precision in law, and we will proceed by law because that is all we have now.”