Only foreign warships passing through the Philippines’ territorial waters are required to seek permission from the government, the Palace said Monday.
Commercial ships are excluded from President Rodrigo Duterte’s Aug. 20 order, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
“The President said the merchant ships don’t need to inform us, only the warships, the gray ships, Panelo said in a television interview.
And days before Duterte’s scheduled trip to Beijing, Panelo said the Philippines had a better relationship with China than during the previous administration.
“It’s much better than previously because we used to have a cold war with them. The previous administration didn’t want to deal with them,” Panelo said.
“At least, now we’re dealing with them,” he said.
Duterte’s order on the warships came after the military reported several unannounced passage of Chinese vessels within the country’s exclusive economic zone, including in the Philippine-occupied Ayungin Shoal in the Spratlys and in Sibutu Islands near Tawi-Tawi.
The government has fired off diplomatic protests against China for its maritime conduct, which defense officials see as a threat to national security.
After the repeated incidents, Malacañang warned it will drive away foreign vessels but did not say which agency would implement the order.
Malacañang has not released any written document regarding the directive as it did not specify if merchant's vessels were included in the order.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows the innocent passage of ships through the territorial sea of a coastal state provided it is “continuous and expeditious.”
Both the Philippines and China are signatories to the UNCLOS.
Duterte will fly to China for a five-day visit on Aug. 28 to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He will raise the Chinese incursions with Xi, Panelo said.
“When they enter our territorial waters, they drive away our fishermen. They enter our exclusive economic zone. Too many. So he told me the other day, he will raise it,” Panelo said.
Duterte will also invoke the 2016 arbitral victory of Manila against Beijing, which rejected the sweeping maritime claims of China in almost the entire South China Sea.
The Philippines and China are claimants in the disputed areas in the South China Sea, along with other countries.
The administration has avoided asserting the country’s ownership in those areas before China, but Duterte changed his tune on Aug. 6, announcing “now is the time” to invoke the arbitral ruling.
“The first time that he went there, he told the Chinese President that ‘I come here to be friends with you and let’s discuss what mutual benefits our countries can derive. I will not raise that arbitral ruling for now, but there will come a time that I’ll do it.’ This is the time,” Panelo said.