Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella on Saturday said the Philippines has asked China to clarify recent reports that revealed its plan to build the first environmental monitoring station on the disputed Panatag Shoal.
Also known as Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal, the triangle-shaped sandbank sits within the 200 nautical miles of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, which China is claiming ownership despite Manila’s victorious case against it in the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal.
“We are seeking information from Chinese authorities to clarify the accuracy of the report,” as first published in the state-owned Hainan Daily, Abella said.
Meanwhile, acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the country is not too keen in including its arbitration victory in the United Nations over China in the framework of the Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or Asean.
The Philippines chairs the 10-member Asean this year and will host meetings of the regional bloc, but Manalo said it will remain cautious in crafting the framework of the Asean Code of Conduct for the vital waterway.
The acting secretary said the Philippines “would like to focus on the various broad topics” within the 10-member state.
Manalo was reacting to former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, who has urged Asean to include the results of the UN arbitration case in crafting the guidelines for the code, which will be finished in June.
Julie Bishop, the Australian foreign minister who recently visited Manila, also supported Del Rosario’s call to include the Philippines’ victory over China in the UN Arbitral Tribunal, which the latter has refused to recognize.
“Well that’s (Del Rosario’s) opinion, but as I’ve said, we’re going through this very carefully,” Manalo said.
He said he could not disclose any details on the code yet, since the Asean member countries are still crafting its framework. Including the UN decision “would still go through a process of negotiations” among the 10 Asean member states.
“We are starting off with the framework, and we are looking at adding to framework the various broad topics. So I think I’m not really in a position to go into the details because this have to be negotiated,” Manalo said.
In 2002, China and Asean signed a Declaration of Conduct, a non-binding edict aimed at reducing tensions in the region and preventing the countries involved—China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan—from aggressively pursuing their claims.
The Code of Conduct, on the other hand, is a more binding proclamation that was enshrined in the Declaration, as it hopes to promote peace and stability in the economically vital sea lane.
China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, where $5 trillion worth of trade passes through every year.
Manalo said what is important is that the concerned Asean parties are now starting on the framework and are serious in finishing it in June. The paper “will be the basis of the eventual negotiation of an actual code,” he said.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose explained that the framework is the skeleton or outline of the Code, and not the detailed guidelines that would help solve the territorial dispute.
“That’s the mutual aspiration of Asean and China, especially the Philippines, because it is consistent with our position to have a expeditious conclusion of the negotiation for the Code of Conduct,” Jose said.
“But of course, it should be noted this is only the general framework, this is only the skeleton or the outline of the COC. We need to put the flesh on the bones,” he added.
Earlier, Del Rosario said the framework will be “futile” if the Asean will not include the arbitral tribunal’s decision.
“Because you’re talking about the rule of law, and the results of the outcome is part of international law and it should be included, and we should work towards that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lauro Baja Jr., the Philippines’ former permanent representative to the UN, has urged the government to object “most vigorously” to China’s plan.
Baja feared the monitoring station will be another “mischief” move by China, citing instances where Beijing made Manila believe it is only “building fishermen’s shelters” but eventually occupied and built structures on Mischief Reef, also known as Panganiban Reef, 250 kilometers west of Palawan.
“We must object most vigorously against such a plan,” Baja said. “Remember, they said they were only building fishermen’s shelters on Mischief Reef, and now [China has] fortified it,” he noted.
Baja reminded China of the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration that Panatag Shoal is a traditional fishing area.
The diplomat also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to “forcefully assert [the Philippines’] position” to prevent the same fate that happened to Mischief Reef.
“The Arbitral Panel only referred to Panatag as a traditional fishing area. The Philippines must immediately verify the newspaper report and forcefully assert its position on the plan of a supposedly environmental monitoring station before we are again confronted with a fait accompli,” Baja said.
Jay Batongbacal, a maritime expert and a professor of the University of the Philippines, agreed with Baja. He said Mischief Reef “is now a full-blown island with commercial or military purposes.”
“Fiery Cross Reef (Kagitingan Island) was initially occupied in the late 1980s on the basis of an environmental project. Now it is also a full-blown island with commercial/military purposes,” he added.
Batongbacal, however, said the reports appeared to indicate the Panatag occupation was an initiative of the local government of China’s Hainan province.
“It’s apparently a local initiative, which means Beijing still has time to avert a crisis if it wants to. But if it proceeds, it runs counter to President Duterte’s friendship policy,” Batongbacal said.
The professor said it is possible China will build a small structure on Panatag first, like what they used to have in the Spratlys, so the fishing may be allowed in only “a small, well-controlled part of the reef.”
“The arbitration case, insofar as it recognizes traditional fishing, wlll be adversely affected if they transform the reef into an island, or if they establish an exclusion zone of some kind around whatever they build,” he said. “[China] can do this to try to mitigate an adverse international reaction.”
The state-owned Chinese newspaper Hainan Daily reported that China plans to build the an environmental monitoring station on Scarborough Shoal, 200 kilometers off the coast of Zambales province.
Sansha Communist Party Secretary Xiao Jie said in the report that preparatory work on the stations and on five other islands in the strategically vital waterway was among China’s top priorities for 2017.
In 2012, China seized small parts of uninhabited Panatag Shoal after a two-month standoff with Philippine vessels.
Tensions started when the Philippines arrested Chinese fishermen caught gathering resources and endangered species such as live turtles at the shoal.
China has been claiming 90 percent of the areas in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, citing its so-called “nine-dash line” on an ancient Chinese map. Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, also have claims on shoals and islands over parts of the waterway.