PH must challenge China reef flights–DFA

The Philippines on Thursday denounced Chinese flights to an artificial island in the disputed South China Sea and said if China was not challenged it was likely to impose an “unacceptable” air defense identification zone over the area.

China landed two test flights on the artificial island it had built on Philippine-claimed Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef on Wednesday, four days after its first landing on the 3,000-meter runway on the reef in the Spratly archipelago.

“We are very concerned about the fact that China had already flown their flights to Fiery Cross Reef,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told a news conference Thursday.

“If this is not challenged, we will have a situation where China will take a position that an air defense identification zone could be imposed,” he said.

China declared such a zone over the East China Sea in 2013, where it has overlapping claims with Japan. The United States criticized the Chinese move as dangerous and provocative.

Under the zone’s rules, all aircraft are to report flight plans to Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to identification inquiries. US, Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have breached the zone without informing China.

Visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Thursday said freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea was nonnegotiable.

“They are red lines for us,” Hammond said, adding that as a major trading nation, Britain expects to continue exercising those rights.

Hammond reiterated Britain’s position on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

“We don’t make a position on the competing claims but we do believe that the disputes of this nature should be resolved in accordance with established processes of international law,” he said.

PH to protest flights

Del Rosario said the Philippines would protest to China about its flights to Kagitingan Reef.

“These are provocative actions that we need to think about and we need to take positions on,” he said.

Vietnam, which also claims Kagitingan Reef, calling it Da Chu Thap,  protested the first flight on Saturday. Beijing  rejected the protest, claiming the landing “falls completely within China’s sovereignty.”

On Thursday, Vietnam protested the latest flights, calling them a serious violation of its sovereignty.

Le Hai Binh, spokesperson for the Vietnamese foreign ministry, said Vietnam would defend its sovereign rights and jurisdiction in the area through peaceful measures, in line with international law and the United Nations charter.

Del Rosario and Hammond, whose visit marked the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Britain, discussed a wide range of topics, including the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China.

Hammond said Britain and the Philippines envisioned the conclusion of an agreement covering trade, investment and defense before the end of the year.

“The British government is committed to strengthening our partnership even further and working together to tackle issues of regional and global concern as strong supporters of a rules-based international order,” he said.

Hammond was to meet with President Aquino for discussion of the strategic partnership between Britain and the Philippines amid threats to global and regional security and prosperity.

Competing claims

China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every year, and has been increasingly assertive in staking its claim.

Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines have rival claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.

China’s building of seven artificial islands in the Spratlys has been condemned by the other claimants and the United States, which has accused China of raising tensions in the region.

The US state department responded to Saturday’s flight by reiterating calls for a halt to land reclamation and militarization of outposts in the South China Sea.

The runway on Kagitingan Reef is one of three that China has been building for more than a year by dredging sand up onto reefs and atolls.

China has rejected calls for a halt in land reclamation and island-building in the South China Sea, saying its claim of sovereignty over the entire area gives it the right to proceed as it wishes.

Beijing says the artificial islands are principally for civilian use but also help defend Chinese sovereignty.

Test flights

A pair of Chinese civilian jetliners landed on Kagitingan Reef on Wednesday in a test to see whether the airstrip was up to standard, Chinese state media reported Thursday.

The China Daily newspaper said the two planes made the two-hour flight to Kagitingan, which the Chinese know as Youshou Jiao, from Haikou on China’s southernmost island, Hainan.

It said the test flights proved the runway’s ability to safely handle large civilian aircraft. Photos showed one of the planes to a China Southern Airlines Airbus A319-115.

Kagitingan Reef, also known as Northwest Investigator Reef, is the largest of the seven artificial islands that in total compose more than 800 hectares of land China has reclaimed in the South China Sea. Its 3,125-meter runway is large enough to handle any plane operated by the Chinese military.

China is building another airstrip on Zamora (Subi) Reef and there are signs that it is building still another airstrip on Panganiban (Mischief) Reef. Both reefs are within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines has asked the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to void China’s claim over almost the entire South China Sea. It expects a decision by June.

China did not participate in the arbitration hearings, maintaining that the sea disputes should be resolved bilaterally. Reports from Niña P. Calleja and  the wires