The multiple evidences against China are palpable and indubitable. The facts are beyond any shade of doubt. Beijing does not have any trace of respect for the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS). The government of Xi Jinping is guilty of a series of continuing premeditated, intentional, and malicious violations of Philippine territory and our exclusive economic zones.
The UNCLOS is an international law or convention signed and ratified by no less than 170 countries including the Philippines, China, Russia, the USA, Great Britain, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, all the ASEAN and EU member nations and states, which include all the major powers in the whole world. This is the legal framework that governs all maritime movements and activities. Under this legal framework, the Philippines won our arbitration case against China.
The UNCLOS defines internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial seas, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones, and continental shelves. Our territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles or 22 kilometers from our outermost baseline. Our exclusive economic zones extend up to 200 nautical miles or 370 kilometers from the baseline. Our contiguous zones extend beyond the 12 nautical mile of our territorial sea baseline limit. Both our territorial seas, our exclusive economic zones and our contiguous zones are being maliciously violated by China.
Here in our contiguous zones, we can still enforce our own laws on four specific areas: customs regulations, immigration laws, tax laws, and rules against pollution on top of our national integrity and state territorial sovereignty. All these are being violated by China on a continuing basis, on top of their blatant trampling of our fundamental rights as an independent and free state. We have documents to show, both documentary, testimonial, and object evidence.
In 2024 alone, China violated our rights on the following dates: On March 5, while our BRP Sindangan, a Philippine Coast Guard Vessel, was on a supply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre in the Second Thomas Shoal, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel intentionally rammed into ours, resulting to multiple injuries to our men due to heavy pressures of water cannons bombarding our vessels. China has no basic respect for our rights, much less for international law.
On March 23, a Philippine civilian vessel Unaiza May 4 was heavily damaged when the China Coast Guard repeated the unprovoked attack last March 5 and caused serious physical injuries to three of our navy personnel as well as serious and extensive damages to properties. All these are well-documented and were subject to a series of diplomatic protests. China has been bullying us for the longest time. On April 30, China repeated this assault on BRP Bagacay resulting in damage and injuries again.
On June 17, a navy serviceman was injured when the Chinese Coast Guard again rammed itself against our vessel while on a mission to BRP Sierra Madre. This time, the Chinese navy illegally boarded our vessel, seized many of our properties including firearms and equipment. On August 19, our BRP Bagacay and BRP Cape Engano were heavily damaged due to the unprovoked and illegal assault by Chinese Coast Guards near the Sabina Shoal.
The same assaults were repeated on August 31 again in Sabina, and many other dates thereafter. I have no more space where to narrate these series of blatant travesties and shameless violations of our fundamental rights as a sovereign state. We have filed a good number of diplomatic protests. The UN is aware of all these.
The time perhaps is ripe that we take a more aggressive stance in diplomacy and in other levels and modes of dispute resolution, availing of the help of our allies against these malicious trampling of our national dignity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty as an independent state and people.