Fil-Ams hold rallies in front of China consulates

CHICAGO – They may not have the numbers but some gritty members of the Filipino American community across the US showed up to protest China’s aggressive behavior against the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.

Members of the US Pinoys For Good Governance (USP4GG) staged the protest rally in front of the Chinese consulate offices here on Wednesday while Vietnamese-Americans also expressed solidarity with the Filipino group in their protest actions before the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C.

Thousands also protested Wednesday in Manila, accusing China of “gunboat diplomacy,” in its claims over the West Philippine Sea.

A small group of Vietnamese joined Wednesday’s protest in Manila, waving an anti-China banner. They said they could not easily stage protests in their country because of state restrictions on such public assemblies.

Eric Lachica, USP4GG leader in Washington, joined Trinh Nguyen-Mau, co-chair of the Vietnamese community of DC-Maryland Virginia, in saying that China should recognize the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of Vietnam on the map of the West Philippine  (South China) Sea recognized by the United Nations Convention of Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).

The rallies Wednesday in the US and in the Philippines coincided with the one-year anniversary of China’s creating the Sansha prefecture “to oversee and administer” one million square miles of the China Sea based on the “nine-dash line” claim of the Chinese government.

The rallies also ushered in the global day of prayer on Aug. 21 when USP4GG continues to press China into coming to the negotiating table before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal in Hamburg, Germany.

Similar rallies were also held in New York led by Filipino American Loida Lewis and in San Francisco led by Rodel Rodis, co-leaders of USP4GG.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital South China Sea, even waters close to the shores of its smaller neighbors.

Apart from Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, the Philippines has also protested the presence of Chinese navy vessels near Ayungin Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

The islands have been a source of regional tension for decades, with China and Vietnam fighting battles in 1974 and 1988 for control of some outcrops in which dozens of Vietnamese soldiers died.

Japan has also recently expressed concerns over China’s actions in the maritime region.

In October 2012, Beijing vested Sansha with the police authority, effective Jan. 1, 2013, “to board, seize and expel foreign ships” within a vast jurisdiction that encompasses islands and reefs in the West Philippine Sea.

Since Sansha’s formation, China has increased its provocative moves against the Philippines, including the occupation of Panatag  Shoal, preventing Filipino fishermen access to the area.