DFA must seek UN reso vs bullying

The government has been taken to task to level up and halt the heightened aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) by immediately soliciting the help of the United Nations (UN) in persuading the Asian giant to stand down.

Senator Risa Hontiveros has urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to hasten the filing of a resolution in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) calling on China to stop harassing the Philippines in its exclusive economic zone.

She said that bringing the issue to the UN is “urgent” as Filipino troops are continuously being battered in their territory.

“Let us show our troops that we are taking concrete steps to fight for them in all diplomatic and political avenues available to us,” she said.

“China’s white hulls are nothing but gray hulls in disguise. Her ‘police actions’ are unlawful acts of aggression under international law,” she stressed.

Last 23 March, the China Coast Guard (CCG) struck anew to stop a Philippine boat on a rotation and reprovisioning mission (RoRe) to Ayungin Shoal, which Beijing claims is part of its territory.

The CCG fired an intense water cannon blast at the Unaizah May 4 (UM4) that injured three Navy sailors on board the vessel.

She slammed the latest dangerous maneuvers of the CCG.

“I am enraged at how China’s water cannons relentlessly attacked our Filipino personnel. If they are not angered by this, then maybe they’re not Filipinos,” she said in a statement.

Hontiveros called on China to be “ashamed and stop behaving like criminals. Have some decency. It’s not too late to act like a dignified country.”

Hontiveros expressed her “support to the DFA for lodging a strong protest” against China’s most recent increased aggression in the West Philippine Sea.

“I also call on the department to expedite the filing of a resolution in the UN General Assembly that will call on China to stop this blatant violence in Philippine waters,” she said.

Hontiveros expressed hope that the DFA could gather the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors, particularly Vietnam and Malaysia, “to stand with the Philippines as we face common security threats and assaults by China.”

RoRe won’t stop

The military leadership said the sea skirmish last 23 March that resulted in injuries to three Philippine Navy sailors will not deter the RoRe as the country does not need to ask China’s permission when operating within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

A military official explained that the operational requirement determines the number of boats needed to resupply the troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

China had claimed that the frequency of the RoRe missions was meant to provoke its reaction to be played up before the world, accusing the Philippines of using the victim card before the world.

Beijing was referring to the aggressive transparency policy that the Philippine military has employed to bring China’s aggression to the world’s attention.

“You know, operational requirements dictate the number of boats that we will use, [and] for that particular mission on 23 March, the UM 4 was enough to carry all the personnel and supplies, and it’s what we did,” said Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Command.

“We have all the right to be there. Whatever necessities we need to bring to the Sierra Madre we do not have to ask permission from them (China),” he said.

The UM 4 is an AFP-chartered supply boat made of light wooden materials. It can reach a shore with a low tide elevation like Ayungin’s.

Strategy being updated

AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. earlier said the military would change its resupply missions to Ayungin.

China had previously set its terms for allowing the AFP to conduct resupply missions: only one supply boat would be allowed to go to the Sierra Madre at a time.

However, China broke its condition when it aggressively blocked the UM 4, the only supply boat to the Sierra Madre on  23 March.

Intruder in own home?

China defended its aggressiveness in the 23 March incident by accusing the Philippines of intruding on its territory. It claimed indisputable sovereignty over Ayungin Shoal, which is located 617.389 nautical miles from the mainland. 

Ayungin is situated within the West Philippine Sea and is only 106.3 nautical miles (NM) from the province of Palawan.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that the country’s entitlement is within the 200-NM maximum bounds for an EEZ.

The international arbitration panel concluded that China’s claim to Ayungin Shoal had no basis under international law.

Filipinos do not yield

Over the weekend, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines would respond with a “countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks by agents of the CCG and the Chinese maritime militia.”

“Filipinos do not yield,” he added.

“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends, but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience,” Marcos said.

In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. lamented the Chinese government’s “inability” to hold “open, transparent and legal negotiations.”

“Their repertoire consists only of patronizing and, failing that, intimidating smaller countries,” he said.

Teodoro said China’s “illegal and uncivilized activities” in the WPS “reflect its isolation from the rest of the world.”

“The world has seen and knows that the Filipino people are not aggressors. We will never seek a fight or trouble. Neither will we be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience. We do not yield. We are Filipinos,” he stressed.

Beijing issues warning

Meanwhile, China fired off a warning on the Philippines for abusing its claimed restraint in the recent skirmishes in the West Philippine Sea while citing the social media statement by President Marcos on 28 March of a measured response to the injuring of Navy sailors manning a supply boat.

The Communist Party Central Committee spokesperson said the Philippines was continuing to play the victim and escalating tensions in the South China Sea.

The CPCC also tagged the United States as the “biggest external disturbance” to peace and stability in the West Philippine Sea.