Vessels back, DFA files new diplomatic protest vs China
FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday ordered the filing of a new diplomatic protest against China amid the reported return of over 200 Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.
Locsin issued the directive following the report of the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) that 240 Chinese militia vessels were seen swarming several features in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“@DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) Fire a diplomatic protest now. @DFA by the time I get to the office at noon that diplomatic protest has already been fired. Now!” Locsin said on Twitter.
The military on Wednesday said it sent three additional naval ships to the West Philippine Sea.
The NTF-WPS earlier reported that only nine of the 220 Chinese vessels were left moored in the Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef in the WPS.
The Chinese ships swarmed the reef in early March apparently to seek cover from bad weather.
The DFA on Monday summoned Chinese Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian to relay the Philippine government’s sentiment over China’s failure to withdraw all of its maritime assets in the WPS.
It reiterated the Philippines’ firm demand that China should “ensure the immediate departure of all its vessels from the area and other maritime zones of the Philippines.”
Warning
On Wednesday, retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio warned that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) would collapse if nations fail to prevent China from making the entire South China Sea (SCS) its own “national lake.”
Unclos introduced novel concepts such as the “exclusive economic zone” and the International Seabed Authority, which regulates the resources in the seabed beyond national jurisdictions, he said.
“The compulsory dispute mechanism of Unclos is one of the greatest advances in international law when Unclos was signed in 1982. Under Unclos, ‘right is might’,” Carpio said during the Stratbase ADRi foreign policy forum on maintaining a rules-based maritime order.
He deplored that China has sought to overturn this “right is might” concept by claiming almost the entire SCS.
“The nations of the world must unite to strongly push back China, otherwise if China succeeds in taking the SCS, or making the SCS its own national lake, denying the application of Unclos in the SCS, then Unclos will collapse for other naval powers will also seize their new seas as their own possessions,” Carpio said.
“That will mean the end of rules-based maritime order. That will mean a naval arms race among coastal states and the diversion of funds from social service to naval defense,” he added.
Security analyst and Stratbase trustee Dr. Rene de Castro said China is mobilizing its “second navy” or its maritime militia to advance Chinese sovereignty claim in the entire SCS.
Another speaker, Liz Derr, Simularity chief executive officer, proposed that the Philippines “start more active and frequent CG (Coast Guard) patrols to protect the features and fishing grounds in the Philippine EEZ.”
“Then, I recommend ‘occupying’, even in a token way, the unoccupied features in the Philippine EEZ. Let’s not let them take any more,” she added.
“My recommendation to start occupying the Spratly features in the EEZ is something of a gray zone strategy. I’m not advocating to expand the Philippine territory like China has, but rather to claim the features that already belong to the Philippines for the purpose of defense,” Derr clarified.
Dr. Chester Cabalza, International Development and Security Cooperation founder, pressed for the creation of a National Territorial Defense Framework in post 2022.