PBBM, senators, US weigh in on China’s laser attack
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PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian following the laser attack of China’s coast guard against the crew of a Philippine Coast Guard vessel supporting a resupply mission of the Philippine Navy in Ayungin Shoal.
This, as Philippine senators slammed the Chinese act, which Washington described as a “provocative” and “unsafe” act. Washington said it stood by its defense treaty ally Manila in the latest ratcheting of tension between the Asian neighbors.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO), in a statement, said President Marcos has expressed “serious concern” on the incident.
“The President summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian this [Tuesday] afternoon to express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and our Filipino fishermen in their bancas, the latest of which was the deployment of a military grade laser against our Coast Guard vessels,” said the Palace statement.
“The Chinese ship illuminated the green laser light twice toward the BRP Malapascua, causing temporary blindness to her crew at the bridge. The Chinese vessel also made dangerous maneuvers by approaching about 150 yards from the vessel’s starboard quarter,” the PCG report had said.
“The PRC’S (People’s Republic of China) conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crewmembers of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines’ lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
“More broadly, the PRC’S dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order,” Price added.
Amid China’s latest harassment, the US affirmed its support to its ally and again declared that Beijing has no legal claims over the Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal) as reflected in the July 2016 ruling of the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration.
“The United States reiterates, pursuant to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, the 2016 arbitral decision is final and legally binding on the PRC and the Philippines, and we call upon the PRC to abide by the ruling,” Price said.
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” Price said.
Beijing had defended the acts of the Chinese crew, saying the Chinese Coast Guard ship acted in accordance with international law, because the Filipino vessel was illegally sailing in its waters.
DFA protest
THE Department of National Defense (DND) released to reporters the statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which filed a diplomatic protest condemning the “shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing of military-grade laser, and illegal radio challenges” by the CCG vessel against Malapascua.
The DFA said the actions of CCG 5205 against the PCG vessel constituted a “threat to Philippine sovereignty and security as a state, and are infringements of its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone.”
DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said, “The Philippines has the prerogative to conduct legitimate activities within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. China does not have law enforcement rights or powers in and around Ayungin Shoal or any part of the Philippine EEZ.”
She added: “These acts of aggression by China are disturbing and disappointing as it closely follows the state visit to China of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in early January during which he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to manage maritime differences through diplomacy and dialogue, without resorting to force and intimidation.”
Senators slam Beijing
ALSO on Tuesday, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri led the chamber in denouncing the China Coast Guard harassment of the patrolling Filipino vessel well.
“We condemn this latest intimidation tactic employed by the Chinese Coast Guard against members of the Philippine Coast Guard on a rotation and resupply mission of the Philippine Navy in Ayungin Shoal,” Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said.
The senator described the act, which reportedly caused temporary blindness to the Filipino crew members, as “loathsome, as it put them in harm’s way and jeopardized their safety.”
He urged the DFA to lodge a diplomatic protest and stand firm in defending the country’s sovereign rights under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
Beijing lying–risa
MEANWHILE, Deputy Minority Leader Sen. Risa Hontiveros accused China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of lying. “It cannot claim that the Chinese Coast Guard ship acted in accordance with international law, when the 2016 arbitral tribunal that ruled against China’s baseless 9-dash-line claim was constituted precisely under the Unclos.”
“It’s as clear as daylight that Ayungin Shoal is Philippine territory. That’s not China’s. They should stop calling it by its Chinese name. Ayungin is part of the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. The Unclos affirms this. The wider international community recognizes this. It is only China’s authoritarian government that seems to think otherwise,” added Hontiveros, speaking partly in Filipino.
“To China’s MOFA, stop lying and stick to the truth: that China is using her military might to justify her blatant and dangerous disregard for international law, with her flimsy historical ‘claim’ as an excuse. Stop with the false narratives, end the lies, and get out of the West Philippine Sea.”