Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday ordered the filing of another diplomatic protest against China, in connection with the latest incursions of its vessels near Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
“Fire off another diplomatic protest… Now,” tweeted Locsin, who is in Russia as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s entourage.
Locsin gave the order after newly appointed Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Noel Clement revealed the unannounced entry of Chinese vessels near Ayungin Shoal to the Department of Foreign Affairs for appropriate diplomatic action.
In a Sept. 26 report, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative confirmed the presence of the China Coast Guard vessels at the Ayungin and Panatag shoals, which are easily accessible from the newly-built Chinese port facilities on artificial islands in the Spratlys.
The maritime institute had identified 14 CCG vessels broadcasting automatic identification system signals while patrolling the West Philippine Sea features over the last year.
CCG ships did not usually open their automatic identification systems during patrols, but they frequently broadcast their presence in these areas.
While other CCG vessels elsewhere in the South China Sea do not broadcast AIS, the think tank said data showed at least one ship was broadcasting at Second Thomas for 215 days, and from Scarborough for 162 days.
The Philippines had repeatedly protested the incursion of Chinese ships in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Before this, Locsin fired off a series of diplomatic protests against Beijing over the presence of its warships and survey ships in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Diplomatic protests against
China had also been filed over the presence of Chinese vessels near Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea.
The Department of National Defense believes that Chinese fishing vessels do more than just fish in the West Philippine Sea, but are part of China’s strategy to control the resource-rich waters and deny
Filipinos access to their exclusive economic zone.
The latest filing is at least the fifth diplomatic protest filed by the Philippines against China this year.
China does not recognize the 2016 Arbitral Award by Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of Manila, which invalidated its massive claims to nearly the entire South China Sea and clarified the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, including the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their bilateral meeting in Beijing on Aug. 29 that the arbitral award was “final, binding and not subject to appeal.”
However, Xi rejected Duterte’s position even as both leaders agreed that a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea should be formulated and that dialogue continues to peacefully resolve the conflict.
The two countries also agreed to exercise self-restraint and respect for freedom of navigation and overflight in the disputed waters.
Locsin Jr. on Wednesday said the Philippines and Indonesia’s recent submission of the 2014
agreement establishing the boundary between their overlapping EEZs to the UN showed that bilateralism works.
In recalling his recent dialogue with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about overlapping EEZs, Locsin said there is a way to settle the issue without surrendering claims.
“I had no answer then I remembered this: ‘Yes, Indonesia and I found it, but it took 14 years to happen,’” he said, referring to the two nations’ joint submission of the 2014 bilateral agreement on Sept. 27.
Locsin said "sometimes bilateralism works” when bilateral dialogue partners “show mutual respect.”
The official copy of the agreement and respective instruments of ratification were submitted by Locsin and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to UN Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Miguel de Serpa Soares at the UN Headquarters in New York last week.
The submission follows the ceremonial exchange of ratification instruments by the two foreign ministers at the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Aug. 1, which effectively put into force the bilateral maritime border delimitation agreement.
The agreement, which was first discussed in June 1994, was formally signed by the two states in May 2014 in Manila. It was ratified by President Duterte in February 2017 and by the Indonesian Parliament in April 2017.
The Philippines completed its two-step domestic procedure in June when the Senate concurred with the executive ratification.
Both countries are parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and are entitled to EEZs of 200 nautical miles.
Under the convention, states have sovereign rights to explore and exploit, and conserve and manage natural resources, within their EEZ.
But the Philippines and Indonesia have overlapping EEZs in the Mindanao and Celebes Seas, and in the southern section of the Philippine Sea in the Pacific Ocean. With PNA