China veto powers null, says solon

Senator Francis Tolentino on Wednesday stressed that China has no right to veto the country’s proposed Philippine Maritime Zone Law, as much as it has no sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.

This, as the senator slammed the negative reaction of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ming to the Philippine Senate’s recent approval of Senate Bill 2492 or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act.

The senator quoted Mao saying, “China noticed the relevant developments. The Maritime Zones Act approved by the Senate of the Philippines has attempted to further enforce the illegal arbitral award on the South China Sea by domestic legislation and include China’s Huangyan Dao, most islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Qundao, and their adjacent waters into its maritime zones, which severely violates China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.”

Tolentino added that it is “much better” to pass the “measure as soon as possible” amid the growing aggression of the China Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.

He also lamented the reported loitering of Chinese vessels in the Philippine (Benham) Rise over the weekend as well as the recent CCG’s ramming and water cannon attack against the country’s supply boat during the Rotational and Re-provisional mission of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the Ayungin shoal earlier this week.