COURT / CHINA DEPLOYS GUN BOAT
[PHOTO -
File:Ph Territorial Map.png, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Territorial map claimed by the Philippines (not fully acknowledged by other
countries)]
MANILA,
APRIL 21, 2012
(INQUIRER) By Matikas Santos - The
Philippines is preparing to go to the International Tribunal on the Law of the
Seas (ITLOS) unilaterally if China will not come, a foreign affairs official
said Friday.
Foreign Affairs undersecretary Raul Hernandez said in a press conference that
"if China will not go with us to ITLOS, our legal team will go to ITLOS
unilaterally."
"We are asserting not only our territorial rights, but also our sovereign
rights over that area," Hernandez said.
He said that they were still hoping for a diplomatic solution to the
standoff.
The Philippines and China have been in a standoff at the Scarborough Shoal
since April 10, when Chinese fishing vessels were found there carrying corals,
giant clams and live sharks as well as other endangered marine species.
BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the Philippine Navy's largest and newest ship,
proceeded to the area and was set to arrest the Chinese fishing vessels when two
maritime surveillance vessels of China blocked the path of the Gregorio del
Pilar.
The fishing vessels have since left the shoal along with several maritime
surveillance vessels who took turns observing the Philippines' ships.
China maintains that historically the Scarborough Shoal, or Huangyan Island,
is part of its territory while the Philippines invokes the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), which recognizes the 370-kilometer
Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines that includes the shoal.
China deploys gunboat Lone Coast Guard vessel hanging tough
at Panatag Shoal Philippine Daily Inquirer 12:06 am | Friday, April
20th, 2012
[PHOTO - A combination photo shows two Chinese surveillance
ships which sailed between a Philippine warship and eight
Chinese
fishing boats to prevent the arrest of any fishermen in
the Scarborough
Shoal, a small group of rocky formations whose
sovereignty is contested by
the Philippines and China, in the South
China Sea, about 124 nautical miles
off the main island of Luzon
April 10, 2012.]
China has dispatched a powerful military vessel in the South China Sea after
rejecting a Philippine proposal to submit the Panatag Shoal dispute, now on its
10th day, to international arbitration, Chinese media reported Thursday.
The English-language China Daily based in Beijing said China's most advanced
fishing patrol vessel, the Yuzheng 310, had been sent to protect Chinese
fishermen in the region, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.
The newspaper, regarded as a guide to official Chinese policy, said that
Beijing's latest moves underscored its "determination to protect its maritime
interests in response to Manila's refusal to withdraw ships from Chinese
waters."
Yuzheng 310, described as the fastest fishery administration vessel, left
Guangzhou on the Pearl River just outside Hong Kong Wednesday morning for an
undisclosed place in the South China Sea, it said.
10 fishing boats
The newspaper said that earlier on Sunday, Yuzheng 44061 left Zhanjiang port
in Guangdong province to patrol waters around the Spratlys (which Beijing calls
the Nansha Islands), which are being claimed in whole or in part by the
Philippines and China and four other countries.
The official Xinhua News Agency said 10 boats were still fishing in the
general area of Panatag, according to a Voice of America report.
"Beijing's decision to send more patrol ships is a necessary and justified
step to show strength," China Daily said, quoting analysts.
"The move also sends the message to Manila that Beijing does not make
concessions after China has shown patience and sincerity to avert the situation
from deteriorating," the daily quoted an analyst at the China Foundation for
International and Strategic Studies.
PCG ship stays put
The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday announced that the
government-commissioned archaeological vessel MY Sarangani and a fishing boat
had left Panatag, which the Chinese calls Huangyan Island and which is
internationally known as Scarborough Shoal.
Only a Philippine Coast Guard search and rescue vessel, BRP Edsa, remains in
the area about 220 kilometers west of Zambales and well within the 370 km
exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, according to Lieutenant General
Anthony Alcantara, AFP Northern Luzon commander.
Alcantara said the BRP Edsa had reported sighting three vessels at Panatag
but could not determine if they were Chinese. He said the Coast Guard could not
even check the flags of the vessels.
"They are not Filipino vessels," Alcantara said in a phone interview with
reporters in Manila. He said the Coast Guard had also spotted two outrigger
boats in the lagoon in the middle of a cluster of reefs and islands. He said he
had no information on when the fishing boats arrived there.
The sightings of the foreign fishing vessels on Wednesday coincided with the
departure of the Sarangani and the Filipino fishing boat.
Alcantara said the two Filipino vessels left because their work was done and
not because of intimidation. "As far as I know there was no threat to them. They
were protected by our Coast Guard," he said.
He said the BRP Edsa would "continue its mission, to take care of our
interest in Scarborough Shoal and then to protect our fishermen, Filipino
nationals if need be."
Arbitration nixed
The standoff at Panatag started on April 10, two days after a Philippine Navy
plane spotted eight Chinese fishing boats in the area. The Navy flagship, BRP
Gregorio del Pilar, was dispatched to the scene. Navy officers boarded one
vessel and found illegally poached marine life but two Chinese surveillance
ships intervened. Beijing has since maintained civilian surveillance vessels in
the area.
The Coast Guard later relieved the Gregorio del Pilar to enforce maritime
laws, according to military and defense officials, while a diplomatic solution
was being pursued.
On April 14, a Chinese vessel ordered the Sarangani to withdraw and on April
16 a Chinese aircraft buzzed a fishing boat in Panatag in the second such
incident in four days, prompting the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a
diplomatic protest.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who is in New York on a previously
arranged UN-connected mission, has proposed taking the Panatag issue to the
International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, but Beijing has rejected this,
insisting on bilateral discussions.
Zhang Hua, spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Manila, on Thursday urged
the Philippines to settle the dispute "through friendly consultations so as not
to complicate or aggravate the incident."
Philippine officials have vowed to remain at Panatag, claiming the area as
part of the country.
A limit to bullying
House Assistant Majority Leader Sherwin Tugna on Thursday urged the Aquino
administration to lodge an immediate complaint in the tribunal based in Hamburg,
Germany, without waiting for Beijing.
"China's thumbing down of our proposal should not mean its end. We have the
right to pursue it in the proper legal forum," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senator Francis Escudero on
Thursday supported Malacañang's decision to ignore Chinese demands to withdraw
from Panatag.
"There's a limit in allowing ourselves to be bullied. It's called
self-respect," said Sotto.
"It's not for them to make demands. The Philippines is correct in simply
ignoring it instead of saber-rattling and fanning the flames of conflict any
further," said Escudero.
In a statement, the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan assailed Chinese
incursions. "As a matter of principle, the Filipino people must assert
Philippine sovereignty against any move to undermine it," said the group's
secretary general, Renato Reyes Jr.
'They don't fish anymore'
Mayor Desiree Edora of Masinloc, Zambales province, said fishermen had been
avoiding Panatag, which Spanish colonizers called Bajo de Masinloc, and which
she said was part of her municipality.
"It is mostly our fishermen who go there to fish," she said in a radio
interview Thursday. "They have not been there for quite some time because they
are afraid that a confrontation might erupt. They don't go there anymore," Edora
said. With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Jerry E.
Esplanada, Cynthia D. Balana and Michael Lim Ubac; China Daily and Voice of
America
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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