PH accuses China Coast Guard of armed robbery

THE PHILIPPINES yesterday accused the Chinese Coast Guard of robbing Filipino fishermen at gunpoint during a series of confrontations at a disputed shoal in the hotly contested West Philippine Sea.

Fishermen aboard three vessels with clear Chinese Coast Guard markings boarded two Philippine fishing boats in Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) on April 11, then took the crew’s catch, the Philippine fisheries bureau said.

In one incident, the Filipino fishermen “were threatened with guns pointed at them before the Chinese forcibly took their fishes,” according to an incident report from the bureau sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The gunmen also destroyed the Filipinos’ fishing equipment, the report said.

The two boats were among 20 Filipino vessels on an expedition in Panatag Shoal, a rich fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, it said.

Unacceptable

A week later three Chinese Coast Guard ships fired water cannons on a Philippine fishing boat, injuring at least three crewmen and destroying the ship’s glass windows, according to a separate report from the bureau.

“This is unacceptable because the area is within our exclusive economic zone,” Philippine fisheries bureau head Asis Perez told AFP.

“No country has the right to stop our fishermen from doing their jobs. That’s against international law.”

Asked about the incidents on Thursday, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said the government would file a diplomatic protest.

Panatag Shoal lies 220 kilometers off Luzon, and is 650 kilometers from Hainan Island, the nearest major Chinese land mass.

China took control of the shoal following a tense standoff between Chinese maritime patrol vessels and the Philippine Navy in 2012.

Armed Chinese Coast Guard vessels have patrolled the shoal since then, restricting access for Philippine fishing boats, the government has said.

‘No permission from China’

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Wednesday Filipino fishermen had “no permission” from the Chinese government to be in the shoal.

“The Chinese side calls on the Philippine side to show earnest respect for China’s territorial sovereignty, step up its regulation and education of the fishermen and stop all actions infringing upon China’s territorial sovereignty, and rights and interests,” he said.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters and islands close to the coast of the Philippines and other Asian neighbors.

Renewed tension over Panatag Shoal has come amid alarm in the Philippines and the United States over giant Chinese reclamation on seven contested reefs in the Spratlys archipelago—also in the South China Sea.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the sea, which hosts vital shipping lanes and is believed to contain vast mineral reserves.

Retaking a PH island

Earlier this week, close to 12,000 Filipino and American soldiers kicked off expanded war drills, including an amphibious assault exercise, at a Navy base facing Panatag Shoal.

The exercise simulated retaking a Philippine island occupied by invaders.

An editorial by the Beijingbased Global Times ridiculed the Philippines-US alliance, calling Manila a “cute little submissive” to Washington.

But Jose parried the attack, saying: “Unable to defend their unlawful position ( in the disputes), our northern neighbor has reduced its lack of a response to name- calling.”