President Benigno Aquino III gestures before the plenary session of the 26th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, April 27, 2015. AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – President Benigno Aquino III on Monday urged other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders to stand against China’s reclamation operations in South China Sea.
Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said Aquino spoke before the 26th Asean Summit plenary and “called for a common stand to protect freedom of navigation and commerce in the South China Sea.”
He quoted the President saying that the freedom of navigation in the area is now being “challenged by the massive reclamation activities undertaken by China, which pose a threat to the security and peace of the region.’”
He further said that China’s reclamation efforts “are direct violations of the DOC (Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea) and the Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”
Aquino pointed out that Asean “centrality” should prevail and that this will only be demonstrated by “expeditiously concluding a legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) with China.”
The DOC, signed by Asean and China in 2002, sought to create a legally binding agreement in the form of a COC. More than a decade later, however, a COC has yet to be concluded.
Paragraph 5 of the DOC states that parties should “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from action of inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, and other features and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.”
The President’s intervention echoed that of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario who gave a strongly-worded speech against China before fellow ministers on Sunday.
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Del Rosario had said that China may actually “finish its reclamation activities before it agrees to conclude a COC.”
Aquino also told fellow leaders that the continued creation of artificial islands in South China Sea has damaged the marine environment and has threatened the livelihood of people in coastal communities.
Recently, Filipino fishermen were forced to leave Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), which is within the country’s exclusive economic zone, after the Chinese coast guard used water cannons to drive them away.
READ: Gov’t confirms Chinese vessel drove away PH fishermen from Panatag Shoal