More nations raise serious concern over China’s ‘coercive’ actions
The Philippines will continue its maritime patrols in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), even after the Ayungin Shoal incident in which a Chinese vessel aimed a military-grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard ship, the military said Wednesday.
Speaking to the press, Commander Ariel Joseph Coloma of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command said the incident would not stop them from carrying out their mandate.
“Nothing has changed,” he said in Filipino. “The AFP will continue its mandate and our ships will continue to patrol the WPS.”
The statement came as Canada and Germany joined other nations in calling out the Chinese coast guard’s use of military-grade laser against a Philippine vessel last week.
Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Hartman said China’s actions were “coercive” and disrupted “lawful” operations of the said PCG vessel.
“Canada underscores its firm and unwavering support for the Philippines in the face of coercive actions of the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea,” Hartman said in a Twitter post.
“Recent actions that disrupted the lawful operations of Philippine vessels off the coast of the Philippines are in violation of international law and contrary to the maintenance of regional peace and stability, and the rules-based international order,” he said.
Germany also expressed “serious concerns” about the laser incident, saying that all states should observe maritime order.
“As a party to UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), the PRC (People’s Republic of China) must comply with its obligations, including notably the 2016 SCS Arbitration Decision,” Hartman wrote, referring to the decision of the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague that said China had no basis for claiming most of the South China Sea, and which upheld Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the area.
Earlier, the governments of Australia and Japan called out China for its actions.
In separate tweets, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu PSM and Japanese Ambassador to Manila Koshikawa Kazuhiko raised concerns about China’s recent actions.
“Australia shares concerns about unsafe and intimidatory actions directed against the Philippines. We continue to call for peace, stability and respect for international law in the South China Sea, a vital international waterway,” Yu wrote.
“We express serious concerns about dangerous behavior against PH vessels. All states should respect maritime order based on international law, in particular UNCLOS, and recall that the 2016 Arbitral Award is final and legally binding. We firmly oppose any action that increases tensions,” Kazuhiko’s tweet read.
The growing international support for the Philippines came as the US reminded China that its increasingly aggressive behavior could invoke the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that tasks Washington to come to Manila’s defense in case of “armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard in the South China Sea.”
The PCG reported that on Feb. 6, China’s Coast Guard pointed a “military grade” laser at some of the Filipino crew aboard BRP Malapascua while on a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre near Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands chain, known in China as the Nansha Islands.
Former national security adviser Clarita Carlos, meanwhile, said the Philippines seems to be the casualty in the proxy war between the United States and China.
“Why are they doing this? Is this part of their optical distractors? But are they escalating it? Are they waiting for America to respond to that?” Carlos said in a television interview.
She said if the two superpowers wanted to engage in a proxy war, they should not do it on Philippine territory.
In light of the latest provocation, she said, the Philippines should “shift gears to change China’s behavior.”
“My position is that you can’t keep on expecting a different result [by] doing the same thing. There’s a name for that. It’s called katangahan (stupidity),” she said.
“This is too much, they are becoming too abusive,” she added in Filipino. “What is China doing? It’s pushing us to the arms of Americans.”
Despite the growing international support for the Philippines, China insisted it was acting lawfully and said “the relevant waters are calm.”
The Chinese Coast Guard’s (CCG) use of laser resulted in the temporary blindness of PCG crew members. However, China defended its action as it accused the Philippines of intruding into its waters.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Wednesday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to forge defense and security cooperation deals not only with Japan but with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Korea as well.
“We should negotiate and enter into visiting forces agreements (VFAs), like the one we have with the United States, in the face of heightened threats from China,” he said.
He said the continued employment by China of harassment tactics on Philippine Coast Guard and Navy personnel and Filipino fishermen “is unacceptable and detestable, and beyond the realm of civilized conduct.”
“How long our patriotic people, with their sense of national pride, could bear such harassment and bullying, I don’t know, but at some point, it has to stop. Enough is enough,” he said.
President Marcos announced his intention to forge a VFA with Japan during his five-day visit to Tokyo last week.
He said an agreement similar to the VFA with the US “is certainly under study.” Japan has expressed readiness to participate in joint military exercises and humanitarian missions in the Philippines.
Rodriguez dismissed Beijing’s assertion as “nonsense.”
“How can we intrude into our own territory? How about China heeding our incessant appeals for them to respect our territorial rights and interests and stop harassing and bullying our Coast Guard and Navy personnel and our fishermen?” he asked.
He also lauded the United States for denouncing the military-grade-laser incident and for reaffirming its obligations under the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty.
In a statement on Tuesday (Manila time), US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said China’s “conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crew members of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines’ lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal.”
“More broadly, the PRC’s dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order,” he said.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers supported the move of the Philippine government against China aggression.
“Now that China has finally owned up to its cowardly act of bullying us in our territorial seas, we condemn in the strongest terms these acts of aggression,” Barbers said.
“We call on our fellow Filipinos to stand united and rally behind our President as he expresses our frustrations and protests diplomatically. We cannot anymore keep quiet and endure in silence. We have suffered long enough. Our fishermen have been directly victimized. As if it was not enough, they now provoked our military and committed an act of military aggression,” Barbers added.
The leftist Gabriela women’s alliance, however, raised concerns over the recently intensified military ties between Japan and the Philippines.
“This so-called security triad between the Philippines, Japan, and the USA was created with the rising geopolitical assertion of China in Asia as its pretext. They say it is a means to protect us against China’s aggression. We say: this is simply setting the stage for a proxy war in Asia,” Gabriela’s secretary-general, Clarice Palce, said.
“Let us not forget that even before China’s greater encroachment in the Philippines, the USA has made the country… its strategic venue for its Asian pivot. Thus, it would be foolish to believe that the US, with all its nearby allies like Japan, are here to form military ties with Philippine interests in mind. Their ulterior goal is clear and simple—the preservation of US dominance in Asia even at the cost of provocation and even war that the Filipinos, who will be caught in the crossfire will suffer most,” Palce said.