Senator Francis Tolentino on Sunday said the Philippines should file a joint diplomatic protest against China before the United Nations after Beijing passed a new law authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels in the hotly contested South China Sea waterways.
He also urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to summon Chinese Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian and Philippine Ambassador to Beijing Chito Sto. Romana to explain the measure which takes effect today (Feb. 1).
“Maybe Foreign Affairs Secretary (Teodoro Jr.) Locsin can start suggesting that all claimant nations in the West Philippine Sea – Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam – hold an emergency meeting. Because we’re not the only one (affected). Vietnam’s fishermen would also be facing the same threatening actions from China. Taiwan will also face the same thing,” Tolentino said.
“A joint protest is stronger, rather than filing a single protest because it would only feature one sentiment only. But if all claimant countries file jointly and simultaneously, that would be stronger,” he added
Tolentino said China appeared to have railroaded the passage of the measure ahead its National People's Congress slated in March.
“I do not know how this came about. It is correct that Sec. Locsin filed a diplomatic protest, but I think the next step is to summon the Chinese ambassador,” he said. “Summon him, ask him to explain. Ask him, too, how this new law will affect our fishermen.”
The senator said Sta. Romana should also be summoned to explain why the embassy in Beijing seemed to have failed to act on the measure until it was too late and it was already passed into law.
“Ask him – you have been there for quite some time now, how come you were not able to monitor this? Why did you not monitor even before it became a law? Whether it was done in secret or not, they should have gotten wind of this so that when the Chinese foreign minister came here, this was brought up,” he said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a two-day visit to the Philippines last month where he met with Locsin and President Rodrigo Duterte.
“So I think there were lapses on the part of our embassy in Beijing. They (Philippine officials in China) are the second ones who should be summoned by the DFA,” Tolentino said.
The passage of China's new law allowing its coast guards to fire on foreign vessels in its claimed territories in the South China Sea is expected to stoke tensions in the region.
The law authorizes the Chinese coast guard to undertake "all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea.”
This prompted the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest against China, with Locsin describing the law as a “verbal threat of war to any country.”
“While enacting law is a sovereign prerogative, this one—given the area involved or for that matter the open South China Sea—is a verbal threat of war to any country that defies the law; which, if unchallenged, is submission to it," Locsin added.
The Philippines won its case against China at an international tribunal in The Hague, which invalidated Beijing's sweeping claims to almost the entire South China Sea.
The landmark decision also ruled that China violated Filipino fishermen’s traditional fishing rights in Scarborough Shoal, but did not make a stand on who should have sovereignty over the area.
The arbitral ruling largely recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights in other areas within its exclusive economic zone that China claims.
However, China rejects the ruling and insists that it owns most of the global waterway.