PH NAVY ON STAND BY FOR SPRATLYS DEPLOYMENT / PH
TO CHINA: STAY OUT! OF PHL ZONE
[PHOTO - Photo released
by China's official Xinhua news agency shows a Chinese fishing vessel sailing
near Yongshu Reef in the Spratly Islands last Sunday.]
MANILA, JULY
18, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Alexis Romero - The
military is ready to assist the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in enforcing the
country's maritime laws, but will only do so if ordered by higher authorities.
Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. stressed Tuesday that the PCG
is the agency tasked to ensure that the country's laws are being followed.
"The maritime laws there (in the West Philippine Sea) are being enforced by
the Philippine Coast Guard and whenever told to do so, we will be in the area,"
Burgos said in a press briefing.
"But as far as our constitutional mandate to protect the people and the
state, we will continue to do that," he added.
Burgos was asked to react to reports that China has sent a big fleet of
fishing vessels at the disputed Spratly Islands.
Burgos said they would only comply with the directives issued to them by
higher authorities.
"We are implementers. We just execute whatever order is handed down to us,"
Burgos said.
"Coordination between the Philippine Coast Guard and the Armed Forces of the
Philippines is very critical," he added.
On Sunday, a huge fleet of Chinese fishing vessels arrived at the contested
parts of the West Philippine Sea, in what observers view as an effort to assert
Beijing's claim over the area.
China's state-owned news agency Xinhua said the fleet of 30 fishing vessels
from Hainan province arrived near Yongshu Reef on Monday afternoon.
The fleet reportedly includes a 3,000 ton supply ship and a patrol vessel and
is said to be the largest ever launched from the province.
The fishing expedition in the area will last for five to 10 days, reports
said.
The arrival of the fishing fleet in the Spratlys came on the same day a
Chinese warship that ran aground on a shoal off Palawan was successfully
refloated after being assisted by vessels sent by Beijing.
The grounded ship - a Jianghu-class, Chinese guided-missile frigate – was
removed from the Hasa Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal on Sunday and left the area on the
same day.
Hasa Hasa Shoal, where the Chinese warship got stuck, is located about 60
nautical miles off Rizal town in Palawan.
The warship got stuck on the shoal last July 11 while conducting a routine
patrol.
The Philippine media knew about the incident through a report released by
Australian paper Sydney Morning Herald last Friday.
Philippine officials did not inform the public about the incident before the
Sydney Morning Herald report was published.
The warship reportedly pinned itself to a reef at Hasa Hasa Shoal, on the
southeastern edge of the hotly-contested Spratlys Islands.
The ship got stuck within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive
economic zone, as determined by exclusive economic zone as provided by
international law. – Alexis Romero
Phl to China: Stay out of our zone By Pia
Lee-Brago and Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated July 17, 2012 12:00
AMComments (94)
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines yesterday told China not to intrude
into its territory after a fleet of 30 Chinese fishing vessels arrived in the
Spratly Islands on Sunday.
The large fleet of fishing vessels arrived on the same day that a Chinese
frigate stranded in Hasa Hasa Shoal in the West Philippine Sea was extricated by
Chinese authorities. Chinese officials said the frigate was heading back to
China.
"The Chinese fishing vessels must not intrude in the EEZ of the Philippines.
We require China to respect the sovereign rights of the Philippines over the
resources within our EEZ," Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez said,
referring to the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Hernandez said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has asked the
Philippine Coast Guard to pinpoint the location of the Chinese fishing vessels
"so that we can ascertain whether they are in our maritime domain."
"If they intrude into our EEZ, we will file a protest," Hernandez said.
"Those 30 fishing vessels should not go fishing in our EEZ and therefore the
owners or the state which has jurisdiction over those vessels should have due
regard to the rights and duties of the Philippines being a coastal state," he
told reporters.
China on Friday urged the Philippines "not to make trouble" in connection
with the territorial dispute between the two countries.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario brought to the East Asia Summit
and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF)
Ministerial Meeting's attention the issue on the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and
explained a member's aggressiveness on Philippine sovereignty over the area and
Philippine sovereign rights over its EEZ.
But Beijing insisted that Panatag Shoal has always been part of the Chinese
territory and is not a disputed island.
China instead urged the Philippines to face facts squarely and not make
trouble.
Phl enjoying support
Malacañang, for its part, yesterday said the Philippines enjoys the support
of the majority of ASEAN members on its position to seek peaceful, multilateral
and rules-based approach to resolve the West Philippine Sea dispute despite the
lack of a joint communiqué after the foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh
due to the opposition of the chairman, Cambodia, a Chinese ally.
Del Rosario said the West Philippine Sea issue was discussed, particularly
the standoff between the Philippines and China at Panatag Shoal, and should be
included in the joint statement issued after every ASEAN meeting.
Cambodia, however, decided to strike it out and did not issue a joint
communiqué.
Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office
Secretary Ricky Carandang said the Philippines was hoping that Cambodia would
become "more supportive" of the need to have a multilateral solution to the
dispute.
But he said there were no talks about President Aquino boycotting the next
ASEAN summit in November.
Independent probe
The Philippines will independently investigate why a Chinese naval frigate
ran aground close to Palawan while patrolling disputed waters in the West
Philippine Sea but will not file a diplomatic protest yet.
The stranding occurred Wednesday in a shoal just 60 nautical miles off the
town of Rizal in Palawan, well within the Philippines' EEZ.
The shoal is part of the Spratly Islands – which the Chinese call Nansha – a
string of atolls and islands straddling vital shipping lanes in the South China
Sea and believed to be sitting atop vast mineral deposits.
After the ship got stuck, a fleet of some 30 vessels from China reportedly
went to the disputed waters again, reports said.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Philippines offered to assist
in removing the Chinese ship and that an investigation was being done.
He said he was not aware if there was any communication from China to inform
the Philippines about the presence of its ships in Philippine waters.
Asked whether the Philippines would ask why the Chinese ships were there,
Lacierda said this was the reason behind the investigation mentioned by Del
Rosario.
But he said there were no plans to file a diplomatic protest at the moment.
"Secretary Del Rosario believes it is not proper at this time," Lacierda
said.
"We would have yet to first see the results of the investigation that we will
be conducting on our own… We have not received any reason why, how that frigate
happened to be there. But, again, we will be investigating," he said.
"We don't know yet. So I cannot give you or hazard a reason why the frigate
was there. That will be investigated," Lacierda further said.
Missile-firing vessel
A security official, who asked not to be named, said the Chinese warship that
ran aground at Hasa Hasa Shoal was among the missile-firing vessels stationed at
Mischief Reef (Panganiban Reef) and is not new to the hotly contested West
Philippine Sea.
"All the six vessels – a gunboat, four surveillance ships and a bigger
frigate – that rushed to Hasa Hasa Shoal to salvage their ill-fated
missile-guided frigate could have come from Mischief Reef which, for years of
occupation, has become the center of China's naval operations in the Spratly
region," the official said.
With missile launchers, Mischief Reef is host to several Chinese warships and
is Beijing's closest garrison to Hasa Hasa Shoal.
"Their ships even reached Hasa Hasa Shoal earlier than our ships because they
were already actually very near the area," the official further said.
He said that China's Southern Fleet has also established bases in other areas
in the Spratly region like the Subi Reef and Johnson Reef.
Corals damaged?
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has sent divers to check if
corals at Half Moon Shoal were damaged by the Chinese frigate.
"There are already three divers belonging to their Special Operations Group
(SOG) in the area and we would be sending three more divers. They are checking
if any of the corals were damaged," PCG spokesman Lt. Commander Armand Balilo
said yesterday.
Balilo clarified their diving mission was part of their agency's basic
function to protect the maritime environment and not in any way related to the
sovereignty issues between the Philippines and China.
In fact, in the event that corals were damaged, the PCG would just file a
report "for record purposes" and inform the DFA, it said.
He also clarified that while the Chinese warship was stuck at the shoal for
five days, there were no traces of oil spill in the area.
Last Saturday, the PCG reportedly sent its BRP Romblon to the site where the
Chinese ship ran aground to observe the situation there. The Romblon kept a two
nautical mile-distance from the Jianghu-class, Chinese guided-missile frigate
with bow no. 560.
But the Romblon had to leave the area in the afternoon due to bad weather.
When it returned around 11 a.m. Sunday, the Chinese ship was no longer there.
The PCG official added that when the PCG ship first arrived in the area, it
was already carrying oil spill booms and was ready to respond to the situation
had there been an oil spill.
Bilateral talks
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, on the other hand, said yesterday the Philippines should
push for bilateral talks with China after it got no support from the ASEAN on
the ongoing territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.
Speaking at the Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel media forum, Lacson said it will be
better if the Philippines and China will hold bilateral talks instead of
engaging other countries on the issue of Panatag Shoal.
"If we involve a third country or other countries, many other interests come
into play. Let's not squander our opportunities and resources. Let's think of
our stomachs. Maybe we can set aside for the meantime the issue of sovereignty
because I think China is only concerned with economic considerations," Lacson
said.
He said he was told by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing during
a recent dinner that they only want the Philippines and China to discuss the
Panatag issue.
"Let's not involve other countries because this might make matters worse," he
said.
"Do you think the US will work on interest of the Philippines ahead of their
own interest? No way. In like manner, we'll be very frank in saying let's put
our national interest first before the interest of other countries. And no
country will advance the interest of another country ahead or on top of their
own interests. So bringing in a third or fourth country or 10 more countries
will not do us any good," he said.
Lacson said the Philippines should instead consider a joint oil exploration
in Panatag Shoal with China.
"We don't have capital… I'm sure we will look for foreign partner to explore
massive resources in Panatag, which is the no. 4 biggest source of natural gas,"
Lacson said. – With Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan, Jaime
Laude
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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