Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Friday said he would recommend the cancellation of any contracts with Chinese companies involved in China’s massive island-building spree in the disputed South China Sea, and warned Beijing not to allow its military exercises to spill over into Philippine waters or it can “expect the worst.”
“If I find that any of those companies are doing business with us then I would strongly recommend we terminate that relationship with that company,” Locsin said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Washington on Wednesday identified at least 24 state-owned Chinese companies, including subsidiaries of the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), that participated in the construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea.
The US said these Chinese firms must be held responsible and that individuals connected to these firms, including their immediate family members, will be barred from entering the United States.
“If they were in any way involved in the reclamation then it becomes consistent on our part to terminate any contract with them,” Locsin said.
Locsin acknowledged, however, that these companies may sue the Philippines if a contract has already been signed.
China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea as part of its territory, has sped up its reclamation activities in disputed areas and transformed previously submerged features into artificial islands with multi-level buildings and runways. Beijing also installed surface-to-air missile systems in these areas, raising concerns from the US, Japan and Australia.
These man-made islands have enabled Beijing to rapidly send civilian and military assets in the waters, where Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims, to assert its control and ward off incursions in areas the Chinese say are within their territory.
Locsin said China’s firing of ballistic missiles during its recent military exercises did not take place in Philippine territory.
“I immediately consulted the map and it was clear the naval exercises did not take place in the coordinates of our Philippine territory. However, I warned, and this kind of irritated Beijing, should these exercises spill over to my territory then they must expect the worst,” Locsin told CNN Philippines.
“I have a specific territory outline and I will not brook any violation of my territory,” he warned.
Chinese military forces launched four missile tests off the Paracels a day after the United States announced that it was enforcing sanctions against China’s state firms involved in the massive construction of artificial islands housing military facilities in the disputed waters.
The US denounced the firing of missiles as provocative and said it further destabilizes the situation in the South China Sea.
Locsin cited the Philippines’ 69-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the US that binds America to defend its Asian ally.
Recently, Washington rejected China’s expansive claims over the South China Sea through its so-called nine-dash line claim, saying it will not allow China to rule and control the South China Sea.
China has told the US to stop meddling in the South China Seaand to avoid stoking tensions in the region.
The US Defense Department said Thursday that Chinese test launches of ballistic missiles in the South China Sea were threatening peace and security in the region.
Confirming reports that Beijing’s forces launched as many as four ballistic missiles during military exercises around the Paracel islands, the Pentagon said the move called into question China’s 2002 commitment to avoiding provocative activities.
China’s “actions, including missile tests, further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“Such exercises also violate PRC commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to avoid activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability,” it said, referring to China by the initials of its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
Over the past decade China has built up military installations on several disputed reefs and outcroppings in the South China Sea to assert its sovereignty over much of the region against territorial claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia.
The Pentagon said the Chinese military’s Aug. 23-29 military exercises near the Paracels — which it calls Xisha — were “the latest in a long string of PRC actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors.”
It said the United States had urged China in July to reduce its “militarization and coercion” in the region.
Instead, “the PRC chose to escalate its exercise activities by firing ballistic missiles,” it said.
Earlier Thursday Beijing blasted Washington over its blacklisting of two dozen state-owned Chinese companies involved in building and supplying China’s South China Sea bases.
“The US’s words grossly interfere in China’s internal affairs… it is wholly tyrannical logic and power politics,” said foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
“China will take firm measures to uphold the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals,” he said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson supported Locsin’s recommendation to cancel contracts with any Chinese companies involved in Beijing’s military buildup in the South China Sea.
“It’s long in coming by way of a statement, coming as it does from our top foreign policy implementer,” he said.
Lacson cited China’s recent display of arrogance in the contested South China Sea.
He said China accused the Philippines of infringing on their sovereignty and security by sending military aircraft into the country’s own air space adjacent to Panatag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc, even urging the Philippine side to immediately stop “illegal provocations.”
Senator Francis Tolentino said he would support Locsin’s proposal as well.
He said it is about time the country truly asserts its sovereign claims in the West Philippine Sea even through diplomatic means.