Deal firmly with China

Several weeks back, when reports of new Chinese incursions into Philippine territorial claims in the Spratlys spawned varied reactions from government officials and media commentators, two DZRH radio anchors asked for my comments on air.

The Philippines, I replied, had a strong basis for its territorial claim. I urged the Aquino government to stand firmly against the Chinese incursions, but suggested maximum use of diplomatic measures towards resolving the conflict.

The issue has widened, with a parallel conflict between China and Vietnam in the Paracels spurring virulent statements and threat of military action by Vietnam. Yet, the state media of Vietnam and China reported that over the weekend the two countries’ naval ships had held a two-day joint patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin, indicating a cooling down of the animus.

More parties have gotten into the picture, including the United States, after a Malacanang spokesperson invoked the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty and averred that the US was obligated to help the Philippines against China. Vice Admiral William F. Landay III, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas replied: the US was ready to assist the Philippines in its defense needs.

Subsequently, US Sen. John McCain called on the Obama government to extend military and political support to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) having territorial disputes with China. Last Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia, who was lobbying for more US weaponry aid, visited McCain in Washington.

Today in Hawaii, China and the US will co-host the first round of high-level consultations on Asia-Pacific Affairs. Last Wednesday, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai urged the US to leave the maritime territorial disputes to the claimant states, warning that US involvement may worsen the situation.

Cui emphasized that any territorial dispute should be resolved bilaterally.

For his part, President Aquino exhorted China to adhere to the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS). “With America backing us up and other ASEAN claimants,” he said, “ we expect that the UN, America and other interested parties, who have to traverse this body of water, will insist on their freedom of navigation and adherence to UNCLOS.”

Earlier, the government dispatched the Philippine Navy’s biggest but aged (68 years old) warship, the BRP Rajah Humabon, to patrol the country’s perimeter waters in the South China Sea, which it recently renamed as the West Philippine Sea. The AFP also sent the BRP Benguet to deliver construction materials to repair the 1.3-kilometer airstrip and naval yard on Pagasa island.

These developments need critical watching. Meantime, here are some basic points.

 The strongest peg of the Philippine claim is the UNCLOS, adopted in 1982 by UN member countries including China. It stipulates that coastal states have sovereign rights over islands and waters within 200 nautical miles (320 kilometers) from their continental shelves. These are deemed “exclusive economic zones for purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing its natural resources, whether living or non-living...”

Specifically, the Reed Bank (now Recto Bank), which the Philippines has occupied since the 1970s, falls within our EEZ. President Aquino has noted it is just 130 kilometers from Palawan, but 900 kilometers from Hunan, China’s closest island. 

China however lays claim to most of the 1.7 million-square-kilometer sea, including the Spratlys and Paracel islands, on the basis of centuries-old maps. Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also claim islands in various parts of the sea. 

Over the years, confrontations have occurred among the claimants. In 2002, the ASEAN countries and China signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, aimed at easing tensions in the area and serving as foundation for future negotiations of disputes.

 The Declaration calls on all the parties to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays and other features, and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.”

The Chinese incursions appear to violate the Declaration.

This situation prompted Reps. Teodoro Casino and Neri Javier Colmenares of Bayan Muna to file last Tuesday a resolution directing the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the reported Chinese incursions. The inquiry, they stressed, should lead to “finding peaceful and diplomatic solutions to the disputes sans US meddling and within the framework of the 2002 Declaration.”

Malacanang’s call for American involvement, said the two, may be interpreted as a “welcome invitation to the US to freely patrol the disputed areas and challenge China... This will make the Spratlys more of a flashpoint for military engagement than it is at present.”

The resolution upholds the right of the Philippine government to “protest such actions by China, assert the country’s sovereignty over its territorial claims, remind all claimants of their obligations under the 2002 Declaration, and pursue diplomatic solutions to the conflict.”

Tack on this unsolicited advice: Beware of China’s insistence on bilateral resolution of any dispute.

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