CHINA on Tuesday declared that it has no plans of taking “any inch” of another country’s territory despite its frequent incursions into the West Philippine Sea, even as it demanded that the United States not interfere in Beijing’s dispute with other countries.
Mao Ning, spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, made the declaration amid a worsening row in the WPS, and as President Xi Jinping visits the United States, a key Philippine ally, for a summit meeting.
“China has made clear on multiple occasions the nature of the South China Sea issue and what our principled position is. China will neither take any inch of territory that is not ours nor give up any inch of territory that belongs to us,” Mao said.
The Chinese official stressed that Beijing is committed to settling whatever relevant dispute it has with other countries “through negotiation and consultation.”
However, she said Beijing will not “waver in our determination to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
China has disputed the Philippines’ territorial sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea, a part of the bigger South China Sea.
China is citing as basis its historic yet unilateral nine-dash line (now 10-dash line), while the Philippines’ claim to sovereignty is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that was ratified by both sides.
As the US continues to remind China that any armed attack on the Philippine assets in the waters would invoke its defense treaty with the Philippines, Mao said that it “needs to stop creating pretexts and interfering in the disputes between China and relevant countries over territorial and maritime rights and interests.”
She also told the US not to try to isolate and encircle China “by exploiting those issues.”
In Manila, the military said the Philippines will continue asserting its rights in the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the WPS through frequent resupply missions, a military official said Monday.
“Whether we do it more often now or not, again these activities are just in exercise of our sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the area. No one has the right to interfere with what we are doing,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson, Col. Medel Aguilar,
said.
Asked why the Philippine Coast Guard’s largest ship, the BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV-9702) joined the Nov. 10 rotation and resupply (RORE) mission for the first time, Aguilar said the country is just “exercising its sovereign rights and jurisdictions in its maritime zones.”
Aguilar also thanked the country’s legislators for making sure that BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) in Ayungin Shoal is maintained.
Aguilar earlier said what the Philippines is doing is legal and peaceful and the AFP will continue to supply information detailing China’s hostile moves in the areas for the filling of diplomatic protests.
He said this seeks to remind China that Ayungin Shoal is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and their presence is “illegal and what they are doing there is actually dangerous and irresponsible.”
Also on Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) thanked senators for a P1.3 billion increase in its budget for 2024.
“This budget increase will significantly augment our operations not only in the West Philippine Sea but also in our fight to combat illegal activities and enforce maritime laws in our borders in the Southern Philippines and Benham Rise in the Eastern Seaboard,” PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said.
“The Coast Guard has a myriad of challenges that we need to address.
And this budget increase will definitely boost our capability development and daily operations. We thank our fellow Filipinos for their trust and confidence in the organization. Rest assured that we will manage every single centavo entrusted to us in accordance with existing auditing rules and regulations,” he added.
During the Department of Transportation (DOTr) ‘s plenary debate for its FY 2024 budget on Nov. 13, Senator Grace Poe announced the coast guard’s additional fund will be allocated for its vessel operations and maintenance activities.