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Friday, March 29, 2024

Ph files news protest vs. China, this time over moves in Ayungin Shoal

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The Philippines has filed another diplomatic protest against China—the second this week, over its activities in the West Philippine Sea, this time in the Ayungin Shoal.

CLOSE TIES. President-elect Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. shares a light moment with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian during the Award for Promoting Philippines-China Understanding event.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Chinese Coast Guard vessels have shadowed Philippine boats on a rotation and re-provision mission.
Among others, the DFA said the Chinese vessels illegally fished in the area and installed buoys and fishnets “that blocked the shoal’s entrance.”

“The 2016 Arbitral Award affirmed that Ayungin Shoal is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. China has no right to fish, monitor, or interfere with [the Philippines’] legitimate activities therein,” read the DFA report dated June 10.
The department reiterated its calls on Beijing to comply with its obligations under international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the arbitral award.

The diplomatic protest came a day after DFA said it lodged a note verbale against the return of 100 Chinese fishing vessels in the Julian Felipe Reef.

With less than three weeks before the Marcos administration assumes office on June 30, its incoming National Security Adviser, Clarita Carlos, said the government will lodge diplomatic protests against China if it sends ships into
PH… Philippine territorial waters.

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“We will continue to file diplomatic protests. Never mind that we are filing 10,000 of them because if you don’t, that means we acquiesce to the situation on the ground,” said Carlos.

She said Manila would pursue multilateral and bilateral talks with China and other powers, saying the alternative to talk was “something unacceptable to all of us.”

Beijing, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, rejected the 2016 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that recognized Manila’s claim to its exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.

Last month, President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said he would not allow “a single millimeter” of the country’s coastal rights to be trampled upon.

“We have a very important ruling in our favor and we will use it to continue to assert our territorial rights. It is not a claim. It is already our territorial right,” he said.

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