Philippines to protest China’s dropping of flares

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will file a diplomatic protest against Beijing over an incident late last week when Chinese military planes made menacing maneuvers and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) aircraft on patrol over Panatag Shoal.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo made the announcement yesterday, saying the incident – which happened on Thursday – took Philippine authorities by surprise, as it came just a few days after Manila and Beijing agreed at a meeting to exert greater effort to better manage maritime disputes.

“Definitely, we will protest this latest move, coming at a time when things had calmed down a bit – and this suddenly happened. The President has come out very strongly on this and we will maintain that position,” Manalo told reporters during the commemoration of the International Humanitarian Law Day and the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

“I don’t know why they (Chinese) did it. All I can say is, they took us by surprise,” he added.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. emphasized the importance of formally protesting and condemning the “dangerous” and “provocative” action of Chinese aircraft against a PAF aircraft on routine patrol.

“We cannot just let this go unanswered. If we do, it’s like acquiescing,” Teodoro said.

Without any provocation, two China Air Force aircraft made dangerous maneuvers near a PAF NC-212i aircraft on a patrol mission and deployed flares, endangering the lives of the Filipino crew.

“It’s prohibited to fly that close to another aircraft and deploy flares in its path. That is wrong. That maneuver was very dangerous, illegal and provocative,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.

The Philippines and China convened last month the 9th Meeting in their Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea (BCM) in Manila.

After the meeting, both sides recognized the need for restoring trust, rebuilding confidence and creating conditions conducive to productive dialogue and interaction.

Manila and Beijing, during the meeting, also affirmed their commitment to de-escalate tensions without prejudice to their respective positions.

“China always said it wanted to de-escalate, but every time, of course, that things like this happen, certainly it tends to raise tensions. So, it is something that certainly we have to pay close attention to,” Manalo said. “Every time something like this happens, you begin to think. I don’t know why they did it. It took us by surprise.”

Irresponsible, illegal

The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) has strongly condemned the irresponsible, unprofessional, illegal and dangerous acts of the Chinese.

“Just when the waters of the West Philippine Sea seemed to show calm, the airspace above it was disturbed with acts of aggression. Our pilots and crew responded with focus, restraint and professionalism, unfazed by the aggressive PLAAF (People’s Liberation Army Air Force) jets,” the NTF-WPS said in a statement.

“Air and maritime security patrol missions will continue within our sovereign territory, airspace and exclusive economic zone. The monitoring of our country’s airspace will be intensified,” the NTF-WPS said.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday, NSC assistant director general Jonathan Malaya noted “an escalation on the part of the People’s Republic of China because this is the first time that we’ve had this encounter” since a “provisional agreement” was reached on the supply mission to BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.

“Since the Ayungin agreement was some sort of a setback for them, they want to put pressure on the Philippines on other fronts,” Malaya said.

He described Thursday’s incident as another form of illegal coercive and deceptive actions of China in the region, noting that “it began in the sea, they’re doing it in the air. They have done this with the aircraft of other countries in the past.”

Malaya said what happened was clearly unprovoked as the PAF NC-212i aircraft was only doing a routine patrol mission.

“We always conduct maritime patrol over that area. This is not the first time and this would not be the last time that we will do our maritime patrol… We have always been flying in that area,” he added.

The Chinese government repeatedly claimed that the Philippines agreed to its demands, including prior notification and inspection, during supply missions.

The NSC official, however, denied this and said that China is merely spinning it to save face with their local audience.

He clarified that the provisional agreement is limited only to maritime resupply missions to Ayungin Shoal and not in Panatag Shoal, also called Bajo de Masinloc, where the incident with the aircraft happened.

But he maintained that the Philippines will continue with its activities, stressing that both areas are within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“What we do is what sovereign nations do. Bajo de Masinloc is very close to the coast line of Zambales. It’s a low-tide elevation, which is not subject to the sovereignty claim of any country,” said Malaya.

“It’s within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and continental shelf. Our Philippine Air Force does what any sovereign country will do inside its EEZ – patrol primarily for maritime domain awareness,” he added.

Malaya also said the Philippines may consider having a set of guidelines for aerial encounters with China, similar to what countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to in 2018.

“This can be considered by our government in trying to settle future incidents if it so happens,” he said.

Malaya said he expects the incident to be brought up in the next bilateral meeting with China.

“Given that we are going to file a diplomatic protest, I think it will be standard for the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) to raise this in the next bilateral consultation mechanism, this time to be hosted by the People’s Republic of China… We have to wait for them to call for that meeting,” he added.

Condemnation

Speaker Martin Romualdez also condemned the latest act of aggression by the Chinese.

“This latest aggressive action of China does not promote peace and stability in the West Philippine Sea and in the region. It does not speak well of a country trying to be a world power and leader,” he said.

He said disputes between two countries would not be resolved amicably if one party resorts to aggression, harassment and bullying.

“We support our personnel and we thank them for their courage, bravery and patriotism for protecting our national territory and sovereignty,” Romualdez said.

The Speaker also said Beijing “has no legal basis,” after the incident, to claim “indisputable sovereignty” over Panatag Shoal and accuse the Philippines of “infringement.”

“They should not insist on this baseless claim. It is against the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which both the Philippines and China are signatories,” he said.

He reminded Beijing that the Philippines is entitled to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone under UNCLOS.

“Bajo de Masinloc is 120 nautical miles from Luzon and is clearly within our EEZ, while it is 594 nautical miles from China’s Hainan Island,” he added.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, for her part, said China should be held accountable for the incident as she called on Malacañang to file another legal case before an international tribunal. “The Philippines must start a legal battle now,” she said.

“It is time for China to be held accountable for her belligerence. It’s too much,” Hontiveros added.

“Not only is China keeping our waters hostage, she has also started to encroach on our skies. These are clear and unacceptable violations of international law,” she said.

“China has repeatedly put at risk our soldiers. A Philippine Navy officer was already harmed, and now our Philippine Air Force pilots were put in real danger,” she pointed out.

“Beijing must be made accountable for any potential injury to personnel or damage to equipment caused.

“We should not wait for China to escalate her provocations further before we raise these grave concerns to an international body. Are we going to wait for someone to get hurt before we act?” she said.

Why is VP silent on Chinese aggression?

Meanwhile, some House leaders decried the continued silence of Vice President Sara Duterte on Chinese acts of aggression.

“For the longest time since she became VP on July 1, 2022 up to this day, have we ever heard her say anything against China? The answer is no. When it comes to national sovereignty, we should expect someone like her to support our cause against China,” Rep. Jil Bongalon of Ako Bicol party-list said.

Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, chairman of the House ad hoc committee on Marawi Rehabilitation, also questioned Duterte’s silence on the latest incident.

“Personally, I’m trying to question, why apart from all of these things happening, and with the recent flare the Chinese government sent in the WPS, she remains to be silent about it,” Adiong said.

“She is the second highest public official of the land, next to the President, and her position on these is very important. Whether her silence will be treated as apathy, that would definitely spell out and define the kind of leader that she is,” he said. — Janvic Mateo, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Delon Porcalla