DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to summon the Chinese Ambassador after seeing surveillance photos presented by the Defense department showing what appeared to be construction of a military base on Scarborough Shoal.
In a Cabinet meeting in Matina Enclaves in Davao City, Sunday, Duterte said he was displeased when Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana showed him evidence that the Chinese government continued to build on the disputed shoal after the ruling of a UN tribunal in favor of the Philippines.
He then ordered Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay to summon Chinese Ambassador Zao Jinhua and confront her with the evidence.
The photos, taken on Sept. 3, showed that there were Chinese vessels, including coast guard patrol boats and a dredger used to turn the atolls into a naval facility and an airstrip.
sino incursion.President Rodrigo Duterte and members of his Cabinet watch a surveillance video showing incursions by a Chinese vessel into a disputed shoal.
“Why is China treating us this way?” Duterte asked during the Cabinet meeting.
“Is it because we are a small country which does not have the capability of standing up to them militarily?” he added.
On Friday, Duterte said the country can only take so much of China’s continued refusal to accept an arbitration award that debunked their nine-dash line claims.
“They say they will not honor it [the arbitration award], but we can only take so much. We cannot take a slap every day,” he said.
He said that the bilateral negotiations between the Chinese and Philippine government would keep within the UN arbitral tribunal ruling last July 12.
“There will be a time that I have to make a stand. I also have to be clear to China that their claim in disputed waters is not acceptable,” he added.
Duterte said that he might raise the issue with US President Barack Obama when they meet on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos on Sept. 7.
Last week, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua said that while China cannot accept the arbitration ruling as a means to move its already tense relations with the country, their country is willing to move forward to enhance ties.
“We cannot accept the arbitration award, but we do look forward to talking to the Philippines bilaterally of the troubles we have. But right now, we need to change our focus from our differences to common interests so we can concentrate on cooperation that will benefit our two peoples,” Zhao told reporters.
“The Filipinos are always in the hearts of Chinese people. We have been friends, partners even relatives for a thousand years despite the troubles we have,” he added.
Earlier, the Asean together with China forged a deal under the “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea” signed at Phnom Penh in 2012, which urged countries to respect the commitment to the freedom of navigation without resorting to violence as provided by international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In Hangzhou, China, G20 leaders expressed alarm over China’s territorial ambitions.
China is hoping a successful meeting will portray it as an assured, powerful nation ready to assume a role on the international stage that befits its status as the world’s second-largest economy.
In a promising opening act, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama ratified the Paris climate accord Saturday, with clear blue skies over the city’s largely empty streets.
To create that set, authorities shuttered thousands of factories and encouraged residents to leave town on free holidays, as well as detaining dozens of dissidents to prevent any hint of unrest.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who personally received the ratification documents from Xi and Obama, applauded them Sunday for “making this historic step” which represented “a major step forward” on tackling climate change.
He urged other G20 leaders to follow suit and turn aspirational pledges into the “the transformative action the world so urgently needs.”
But experts expect the gathering to be short on substance, as rising populist sentiment makes it difficult for leaders to commit to the kinds of measures needed to address the world’s most pressing issues.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned last week that the world faces a potentially toxic mix of low long-term growth and rising inequality, creating political temptations to populism and raised trade barriers.
In Hangzhou, geopolitical concerns—from rising tensions over the strategically vital South China Sea, to the ongoing Syrian civil war—also threaten to disrupt Beijing’s carefully plotted script.
The hosts have been keen to avoid the contentious South China Sea topic, but international alarm is rising over Beijing’s claims in the region where it has built artificial islands and facilities including airstrips on reefs and outcrops.
There were suggestions of a testy exchange between Xi and Obama Saturday over a United Nations tribunal ruling which found there was no legal basis for Beijing’s claims to the waterway.
“The two leaders had a candid exchange on the recent arbitral tribunal ruling on the case between the Philippines and China, with President Obama emphasizing the importance for China… to abide by its obligations” the White House said in a statement.
The US has said it will continue naval patrols near the reefs and outcrops China claims to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, a move which has angered Beijing.
Xi “urged the United States to ‘play a constructive role’ in maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea”, the official Xinhua news agency said. With AFP