Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Wednesday said Chinese embassy deputy chief of mission Zhou Zhiyong has disrespected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
He said the Chinese diplomat insisted in a news forum over the weekend that the Philippines has promised to tow the grounded Navy ship BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal in Palawan, which is inside the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
“His insistence amounted to disrespect and an insult because President Marcos had declared days earlier that he had made no such promise and that he was scrapping any such commitment if one was made by any of his predecessors. Mr. Zhou and his government should have just accepted the President’s declaration,” he said.
Rodriguez suggested that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summon the Chinese embassy’s deputy chief of mission “to impress upon him the President’s firm statement that no such promise has been made and that the Philippines does not intend to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin as a symbol of our country’s sovereign rights over that area.”
“Ayungin is about 194 kilometers from Palawan and is clearly within our EEZ. The shoal is more than 3,000 kilometers from the nearest Chinese island. Who are they to tell us to abandon our own maritime territory?” the lawmaker asked.
In the news forum, the Chinese diplomat also reportedly lamented that the Philippines has not responded to China’s repeated requests for dialogue to maintain peace in the disputed areas in the South China Sea.
News reports quoted him as saying: “China has repeatedly expressed its willingness to resolve differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogues. We hope that the Philippines side will abide by the existing consensus and cherish the hard-won situation in our bilateral relations. Meet the Chinese side halfway and find an effective way of managing the situation on the sea through diplomatic consultations.”
Rodriguez expressed support for the Philippine government’s silence on the supposed Chinese requests for negotiations.
“You do not negotiate with anyone encroaching on your backyard. You exert effort to drive him away,” he said.
He said the country cannot meet Beijing halfway in managing the situation in the West Philippine Sea, as suggested by the Chinese diplomat, “because that Ayungin area belongs to us.”
“Why should we involve China in managing our town’s maritime territory? They should leave that area and the sea features they have seized, including Mischief Reef, also off Palawan in the south, and Scarborough Shoal near Zambales and Pangasinan in the north,” he said.
Rodriguez has been a consistent critic of Chinese encroachment in the West Philippine Sea and of Chinese bullying and harassment of Philippine vessels and Filipino fishermen.
