THE Philippines filed its 99th diplomatic protest at the weekend against China’s “prolonged” presence in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“The Department of Foreign Affairs lodged a diplomatic protest yesterday against the incessant deployment, prolonged presence, and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa Islands, demanding that China withdraw these vessels,” the DFA said in a statement.
“The DFA is demanding that China withdraw these vessels in these areas, which the Philippines claimed as part of its exclusive economic zone [EEZ].”
“The Pag-asa Islands are an integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction,” the DFA said. Pag-asa is part of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) that is considered a municipality of Palawan province.
The country had filed a series of protests in March, when 220 Chinese maritime militia vessels were found massed in a tight formation in Julian Felipe Reef. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. vowed to file a diplomatic protest daily until China removes its vessels in the contested waters, where some $3 billion worth of goods sail through annually.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila said the vessels were seeking refuge from rough seas in the area, and denied there were militia men onboard the vessels. However, both the DFA and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana rejected that excuse, noting that no weather disturbances were reported on those days.
Like sentries
The American think tank, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), said the Chinese vessels operate as sentries, staying at targeted features for weeks at a time and usually leaving only once a replacement has arrived to continue the watch.
This must have been the case because despite their promise to leave Julian Felipe Reef, which China claims as Niu’e Jiao Reef, the vessels were found to have scattered among other features in the WPS.
“Whether the Philippines will continue its current pace of patrols, and how China might react, is unclear,” AMTI said.
“But while Manila’s combination of more public protest and greater presence seems to have had some success in dispersing Chinese vessels at Whitsun Reef and Sabina Shoal, it hasn’t impacted the overall number of Chinese vessels operating in disputed waters.”
The country’s increased patrols in the WPS, which is part of the South China Sea, is “drawing greater attention, and international condemnation, to China’s activities, particularly on the militia front,” AMTI said.
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