Daily Tribune
CHINA has been building artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea, hosting airfields and docks that support its overarching military reach in the disputed waters. A British study says Beijing is also conducting espionage operations in the South China Sea, which overlaps the WPS.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF Armed Forces of the Philippines AND Getty
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was urged to study China's possible violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) after it "seized and dumped" airdropped supplies meant for the Filipino troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre in the West Philippine Sea's (WPS) Ayungin Shoal.
Citing the released video clip, Senator Francis Tolentino said the 19 May confrontation between the Philippine Navy crew onboard two small rubber boats and China Coast Guard personnel onboard two large rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) clearly showed Beijing's disrespect to international order.
"I think the DFA should focus, not just on mere diplomatic protests, but to study possible violations of International Humanitarian Law," he said in a television interview.
Tolentino, who chairs the Senate Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones, said China's action "essentially deprived" Filipino soldiers of the "right to life."
"It is a form of starvation, a prohibited method of warfare. Ostensibly an act of aggression," he stressed.
"Even in Gaza, food supplies were allowed airdropped even before the opening of the Rafah gates," he further pressed.
Tolentino noted that the DFA should go beyond the filing of diplomatic protests and study China's possible violations of IHL.
"I challenge the legal department of the Department of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the Solicitor General's Office, to really study this matter because this is really an escalation, a horizontal escalation of conflict in Ayungin Shoal," he said.
"We have to understand that even if there is no direct conflict yet, there is a known prohibition—which is recognized under IHL—of starvation as a method of warfare," he added.
He noted that global diplomatic pressure may urge China to act properly before the International community.
"We should look at this in a broader spectrum. China is trying to flex its muscles in that area and uplift and alleviate its status economically as a major superpower," he said.
"As the Japanese ambassador asserted, China would not want to be an isolated country," he added.
