THE reclamation activities of China in Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, an area within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), has progressed in a few months, latest satellite images showed. PHOTO From Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
Malacañang on Saturday said it was the Philippines’ peaceful approach to dealing with its maritime dispute with China that drew support from the international community, including from US President Barack Obama, who reacted strongly on Thursday to China’s massive land reclamation in the South China Sea.
“Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” Obama told a town hall event in Kingston, Jamaica, ahead of the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
“We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn’t mean that they can just be elbowed aside,” Obama said.
It was the strongest US reaction so far to China’s land reclamation following publication of pictures that, according to analysts, showed how Beijing was trying to create “facts in the water” to strengthen its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday welcomed the statements of support from Obama and other countries that recently criticized China for aggressively reclaiming land at contested reefs in the South China Sea, apparently trying to alter natural rock formations in disputed waters, which could affect territorial claims such as the case brought by the Philippines in the United Nations.
Speaking on government-run radio, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government was committed to a peaceful resolution of the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea, taking its case to international forums for discussions and to the United Nations for arbitration.
China’s land reclamation in South China Sea waters within the exclusive economic zones of its smaller neighbors, including the Philippines and Vietnam, drew sharp criticism from Obama on Thursday.
In March, India assured the Philippines that it had its support in the promotion of a peaceful settlement of maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Also in March, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia stood for the peaceful resolution of the maritime disputes and would promote peace and stability, maritime security, unimpeded trade and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.
“These statements and those of other nations reflect growing international concern over these reclamations that are contrary to international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and undermine our collective effort to build regional security and stability,” the DFA said in a statement.
PH protests
The Philippines has lodged diplomatic protests with China over Beijing’s land reclamation at several reefs in the West Philippine Sea, part of the South China Sea within Manila’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone. Beijing appears to be building artificial islands and altering the maritime features, status and entitlements in the disputed waters.
Beijing has dismissed the Philippine protests, claiming “undisputed sovereignty” over the whole of the South China Sea.
China’s foreign ministry also dismissed Obama’s criticism, accusing the United States of hypocrisy.
“I think everybody can see very clearly who in the world has the greatest size and muscle,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday.
The DFA said it would continue to work with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for full implementation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the early adoption of a binding code of conduct in the disputed waterway.
“The Philippines will continue to work with Asean and other responsible members of the international community to address unilateral aggressive actions that directly challenge the rule of law, create tensions and pose risks to the peace and stability of the region,” the DFA said.
Besides the Philippines and Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea.
Response to PH challenge
A maritime law expert at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law said China’s land reclamation was “undoubtedly” Beijing’s response to Manila’s legal challenge filed in the United Nations.
In February, Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, wrote an analysis of China’s land reclamation on the website of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (Amti).
“There is little doubt that China’s reclamation activities in the South China Sea are among its direct responses to the legal challenge launched by Manila. While the legal status of the contested features as described and presented in the arbitration case are not affected, their physical alteration effectively ‘tampers with the evidence,’” Batongbacal wrote.
The Amti, under the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, has published the newest pictures of China’s land reclamation on Panganiban Reef, internationally known as Mischief Reef, in the West Philippine Sea.
Particularly disturbing
China’s work on Panganiban Reef is particularly disturbing for the Philippines, as the reef is just 41 kilometers away from Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), where the Philippines maintains a small garrison aboard a rusting hospital ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which it grounded there in 1999 to mark its territory.
China has steadily been reclaiming land in the West Philippine Sea, and in March, the Inquirer reported that the Philippines had lost about 60 hectares to China at four Philippine-claimed atolls and reefs in the contested waters.
“The existence of the new islands will now cast doubt on whether the features were originally mere low-tide elevations or rocks above water at high tide. This makes future agreement over their nature and effect on delimitations even more difficult to reach,” Batongbacal wrote.
Chinese insecurity
Batongbacal offered another point of view: China is doing the massive reclamation work to soothe its own insecurity.
“For China, the artificial islands also address its own perceptions of weakness in the strategic situation at sea and appear to be attempts to guarantee itself against an adverse ruling. It aims to recapture the high ground and pressure littoral states in the region to recognize that Beijing’s claims cannot be easily dismissed nor its interests denied,” he wrote. With a report from Niña P. Calleja
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