PCG, China trade verbal volleys

The Philippine Coast Guard has found itself in the middle of an exchange of fire, on social media, with a Chinese mouthpiece over the overlapping territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea or WPS.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said China is trying to stoke tensions between Manila and Beijing.

“The People’s Republic of China is distorting the concept by packaging its illegal territorial claim as ‘jurisdiction,’ avoiding the legal and political facts of its illegal presence in the Philippines’ EEZ (exclusive economic zone) and seeking to solidify its illegal gains in the WPS,” Tarriela said in his X (formerly Twitter) account posted on Saturday.

“PRC is attempting to further provoke legal challenges based on its unilaterally drawn lines in the entire South China Sea,” he added.

Tarriela noted that China’s actions had worsened the situation in the WPS.

“This will only further squeeze the political space for the PRC and the Philippines to jointly manage crises and properly handle disputes if they would be consistently ignoring UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” he said.

Tarriela made the statement after China accused the Philippines of abusing legalities following the Senate’s recent passage of a bill defining the Philippines’ maritime zones.

‘Legal’ provocation

China described the move as a “provocation against us.”

The Global Times, a tabloid under the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, the People’s Daily, claimed that “the actions of ignoring reality and blindly resolving relevant disputes with legal resolutions do not apply to the complex South China Sea issue.”

Last week, Philippine lawmakers approved Senate Bill 2492, or the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act of 2023, paving the way for the country to legally define its internal and archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf.

Senator Francis Tolentino, the sponsor of the measure, said the Philippine Maritime Zones Bill will be forwarded to the secretariat of UNCLOS, once it is enacted into law.

UNCLOS compliant

Contradicting China’s claim, Tarriela said the Senate’s approval of the bill fully complies with the rulings of UNCLOS and does not provoke anything.

“None of its provisions contradict the letter of UNCLOS. Our defined maritime zones serve as the practical implementation of UNCLOS, specifically in establishing our territorial sea, contiguous zone, continental shelf, and exclusive economic zone,” Tarriela said.

He added that these zones are “not arbitrary lines drawn beyond the prescribed UNCLOS limits.”

“Therefore, if the People’s Republic of China claims that our maritime zones are an abuse of legal means, it raises questions about whether their interpretation of UNCLOS differs from ours,” Tarriela said.

“Additionally, if a country is a signatory state of UNCLOS but does not believe in the applicability of its legal provisions in resolving disputes, it suggests a willingness to violate, abuse, and disrespect international law,” he said.

Other officials welcomed the passage of SB 2492, including National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, who said the bill “marks another leap” in the country’s assertiveness over its maritime domain.