Philippines protests China’s ‘incessant deployment’ of ships to Pag-asa Island
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 11:25 a.m.) — The Philippines has filed a fresh diplomatic protest against China, demanding that it withdraw its vessels from the vicinity of the Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it fired a protest Friday "against the incessant deployment, prolonged presence, and illegal activities of Chinese maritime assets and fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Pag-asa islands."
"The Pag-asa Islands is an integral part of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction," DFA also said.
This comes amid continued reports that Chinese vessels remain scattered across the West Philippine Sea, or the part of the South China Sea within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
At one point, the Philippines was filing daily diplomatic protests over the presence of hundreds of Chinese ships in Julian Felipe Reef. The incursion also set off uncharacteristically heated exchanges between Cabinet members and Chinese officials.
President Rodrigo Duterte has since banned most of his Cabinet from discussing the ongoing dispute with China.
DFA previously told reporters that, under the Duterte administration, 83 protests have been filed against China as of May 4.
Although the ships in Julian Felipe Reef have dispersed, a report by US-based geospatial imagery and data analysis company Simularity shows that they are still within the Philippines' EEZ.
South China Sea bilateral talks resume as tensions flare
The new protest comes exactly a week after Manila and Beijing resumed bilateral talks on the South China Sea.
The two countries on May 21 held the sixth meeting of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea amid growing tensions over the critical waterway.
“The Philippines reiterated its long-standing call for full respect and adherence to international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and its authoritative interpretation and application – the final and binding 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award,” DFA said in a statement on the meeting.
China continues to reject the July 2016 ruling of an UNCLOS-backed tribunal that invalidated its nine-dash line claim over the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
— with reports from Patricia Lourdes Viray
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