THE Department of Foreign Affairs has claimed no reclamation happened in the Paracels in the West Philippine Sea before the Asean Ministers Meeting this month.
The DFA disclaimer appeared to be in response to a statement by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which refuted Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano’s and the Chinese Foreign Minister’s claim that reclamation had long been halted in the disputed South China Sea.
“While land reclamation activities have taken place in the Paracels in the previous months based on the AMTI report, the same report did not indicate that such activity was (sic) taking place prior to the AMM,” the DFA said.
The DFA also assured the public that if ever there were reports that China was still building structures in the disputed sea, the agency would verify such activities.
“We would like to assure the public that if ever there are reports to the contrary, these will be carefully studied, verified and handled accordingly,” the DFA said.
In photos and documents published on Thursday, the AMTI of the CSIS showed that “Beijing continues to reclaim land farther north” of the South China Sea “in the Paracel Islands,” an area also claimed by Vietnam.
“China’s own reclamation work did not end in mid-2015 with the completion of its artificial islands in the Spratlys. Beijing continues to reclaim land farther north in the Paracel Islands,” AMTI said.
It said the most recent examples of its reclamation were at Tree Island and North Island in the Amphitrite Group.
In August 2015, AMTI claimed two months after Wang Yi claimed all Chinese reclamation had ended, there was only a small amount of newly created land on the western end of Tree Island.
“China has since dredged a new harbor and added about 25 acres of additional land to the island,” the organization said.
AMTI also reported in February that China had completed a new helipad and installed wind turbines and two photovoltaic solar arrays on Tree Island.
The group also said that China began reclamation to connect North Island with the neighboring Middle Island in 2016, but the land bridge was washed out by Typhoon “Sarika” last October.
But DFA spokesman Robespierre Bolivar maintained the Philippines did not receive any reports of reclamation.
“In general, if I’m not mistaken, the Philippines, did not receive any official reports of such activities,” Bolivar said.
The DFA said that Cayetano’s statement “during the press conference at the end of the Asean Ministerial Meeting and Related Meetings on Tuesday must be taken in its full context.”
The DFA clarified that Cayetano might have admitted he wanted to remove the word reclamation in the joint communique, but the Asean decided to include the word.
“In describing the process of discussions during the AMM, the Secretary noted that each Asean Member State goes into the talks with both their own national perspectives and the larger regional interest in mind,” the DFA said.
The position of the Philippines is just based on the latest intelligence report.
“The position of the Philippines is to always reflect the current situation in the West Philippine Sea and the foreign policy direction of the Philippines–which is not to surrender a single inch of Philippine territory while at the same time working towards good neighborly relations with other claimants–is always based on the latest intelligence we have on the ground,” the DFA stated.
Cayetano earlier admitted that he wanted to remove the word “reclamation” in the joint communique, because he claimed that it did not reflect the current situation in the disputed sea.
But Cayetano failed to persuade his fellow Foreign Ministers and included the issue of reclamation and militarization in the customary joint communique.
“I didn’t want to include it (reclamation). It’s not reflective of the present position. They (China) are not reclaiming land anymore,” Cayetano told the reporters in a press briefing during the ARF.
Cayetano also claimed, during Wang’s official visit here last month, that CSIS, an American think tank was for American interests and “not necessarily Filipino interests”.
“They’re (CSIS) a very good organization. Their transparency program helped us a lot but they are an American think tank. They are for American interests, not necessarily Filipino interests. Sometimes they go into Philippine interest, sometimes (not). So what I’ve noticed about CSIS is they don’t give you all the pictures,” Cayetano said.
He urged everyone to demand that CSIS give the public the pictures or tell what’s happening in the whole West Philippine Sea.
“Because if they show that, everyone will be protesting against each other. Because it’s not only China who’s building,” he added.
A year after the Arbitral Tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines declaring that China’s nine-dash line was illegal and excessive, diplomatic and political sources have said Beijing continued its military positions in the South China Sea, building structures for missile systems, including at the Philippines’ Panganiban or Mischief Reef.
China has also been “accelerating” its expansion activities in the West Philippine Sea as they build airstrips, a school among others in the disputed Paracel Islands, or also known as the Woody Island, which is also being claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines.
So far, China occupies 20 outposts in the Paracels, three of these now have protected harbors capable of hosting large numbers of naval and civilian vessels.
Four others boast smaller harbors, with a fifth under construction at Drummond Island. Five of the islands contain helipads, with Duncan Island housing a full helicopter base.
And the largest of the Paracels, Woody Island, already has an airstrip, hangars, and a development of HQ-9 surface-to-air missile batteries.
Woody Island, which has expanded to incorporate its small neighbor Rocky Island, is China’s main military base in the Paracels as well as the official administrative capital of the three island chains it claims in the South China Sea (the Xishaor Paracel Islands, Nansha or Spratly Islands, and Zhongsha, encompassing Macclesfield Bank and Scarborough Shoal)