RP seeks joint use of reef with Chinese

The Philippines will push for the joint use of concrete "fishermen’s shelters" that China built on Mischief Reef when the two countries start confidence-building talks tomorrow, a ranking foreign affairs official said yesterday.

The official said Manila will push the proposal during the two-day meeting of the experts group that was formed in 1995 to defuse tensions after Beijing built concrete structures on Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands.

The experts group consists of panels from Beijing, to be headed by former Chinese ambassador Fu Ying, and Manila, which will be led by Foreign Affairs assistant secretary Willy Gea.

"The joint use of the reef is one of the best ways to solve the problem there," the official said, noting that Beijing had earlier expressed willingness to allow Filipino fishermen to use the "shelters" when the time is right."

"We have to ask them if this is the right time already so we can start upgrading the fishermen’s shelters there," the official said.

Manila would also raise the issue of Chinese fishermen poaching endangered marine species in Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippine Navy in mid-March intercepted 10 Chinese vessels and confiscated shells of an endangered giant clam and several sacks of its meet.

The Navy also confiscated dynamite and cyanide from the vessels, fueling suspicion that the Chinese fishing trawlers were employing universally-condemned fishing methods in the shoal.

Manila filed a diplomatic protest over the incident and announced it would impose a ban on fishing in the shoal and surrounding waters but Beijing objected and rapped a senior government official for taking up the unrelated matter of drug trafficking in the issue.

"Any protest or opposition from China is expected, but we also have a claim and so we can impose a fishing ban for the sake of the endangered species in the area," the official said.

However, Beijing was less irritated with the government’s announced fishing ban than with the statements of National Security Adviser Roilo Golez.

Golez had raised the national security threat of drug trafficking which, he said, emanates from factories in five eastern Chinese provinces that were operated by rogue Chinese military officials.

The Chinese embassy, in a statement, said Golez’s statement was a cause of "grave concern" and urged Manila to restrain him and other officials from making any statement that "poisons our bilateral relations."

Beijing reiterated its claim on Scarborough Shoal, which the Chinese call Huangyan Island and the Filipinos call Panganiban Reef.

"The Huangyan Island is an integral part of the Chinese territory. Its adjacent waters have always been the Chinese fishermen’s traditional fishing ground," the embassy said.