China: Ayungin access needs advance notice

MANILA, Philippines — With its tactic of intimidation drawing outrage and unsuccessful in stopping Philippine resupply missions for troops on the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, China has announced it would no longer block deliveries of food and other provisions to the military outpost – situated in Philippine waters – if Manila gives advance notice.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning issued the statement in reaction to the Philippine Coast Guard’s revelation that the China coast guard (CCG) tried last month to stop the evacuation of a sick Filipino soldier stationed on the Sierra Madre to a hospital in Palawan.

Recently, members of the CCG on rubber boats snatched one of four packages of food and provisions air-dropped by a military aircraft on the Sierra Madre.

“China’s position on the issue of Ren’ai Jiao is clear. If the Philippines notifies the Chinese side in advance, we can allow delivery of living necessities to the grounded warship or evacuation of personnel concerned,” Mao said, calling Ayungin Shoal by its name assigned by Beijing.

“However, the Philippines should not use this as an excuse for delivering construction materials in an attempt to permanently occupy Ren’ai Jiao,” she added.

Reacting to the Chinese foreign ministry statement, PCG Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan said the Philippines is free to do anything it wants in Ayungin Shoal or in any part of its territorial seas without having to inform China.

“In my personal view, we don’t need to seek their permission. In the first place, it’s our ship,” he said in an interview with “Storycon” on One News on Friday, referring to the Sierra Madre.

“Second, the ship is in our seas, therefore we don’t have to seek permission,” he added.

Beijing’s English tabloid Global Times claimed in an article on its website the Philippine speedboats delivered “suspicious” items to the Sierra Madre that could be construction materials.

The Philippines, according to the article, “dispatched the high-speed assault boats to participate in the illegal transport and repair… and carried a large number of suspicious materials.”

“The Philippine military’s high-speed assault boats used for resupply were carrying a large number of suspicious square barrel-like objects and boxed items. Some of these boxes were wrapped in plastic bags to prevent them from getting wet due to the spray generated by the boats’ high speeds,” it claimed.

The “illegal supplies” carried by Filipino personnel “likely included fresh water, food and other essential items, as well as fuel and construction materials used to reinforce the Philippines’ illegally grounded ship.”

The PCG has described China’s latest acts of harassment against Philippine vessels as barbaric and inhumane and vowed to pursue more vigorously its task of protecting the country’s territorial waters.

China committed its latest act of harassment early last week targeting marine scientists from the University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) and Institute of Biology (UP-IB) doing acoustic survey in the vicinity of Escoda (Sabina) Shoal from June 3 to 6, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela said.

The scientists were examining the damage to the marine environment caused by global warming and by Chinese illegal and destructive activities in the West Philippine Sea when Chinese coast guard vessels and helicopters arrived and conducted “amphibious drills” in the area.

Fernando Siringan from the UP-MSI and Jonathan Anticamara from the UP-IB provided details of the Chinese harassment at a press briefing organized by the PCG on Thursday.

China continues to claim sovereignty over waters within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, a claim already invalidated in a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague in July 2016. The same ruling reaffirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements. China has vowed not to honor the ruling.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and the AFP earlier denounced China’s growing aggressiveness in staking its claims in the West Philippine Sea, stressing that China is the one trespassing in Philippine waters.

“The main message is, the 10-dash line is the provocation and everything falls from that. They have no business being anywhere in the West Philippine Sea and other areas where we have jurisdiction,” Teodoro said in his latest statement on the issue. — Ghio Ong, Marc Jayson Cayabyab