Marcos summons China envoy over ‘actions against PCG, our fishermen’

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday afternoon regarding China’s escalating harassment of Filipino fishermen and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

In a statement, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said Mr. Marcos called for Huang “[to] express his serious concern over the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the [PCG] and our Filipino fishermen in their bancas, the latest of which was the deployment of a military-grade laser against our Coast Guard vessels.”

The PCO did not provide further details of the president’s meeting with Huang.

China has claimed that the PCG ship “intruded” into its territory and prompted its patrol vessel to react in a “professional and restrained” manner during the latest incident in the disputed waters last Feb. 6, but made no mention of the use of military-grade lasers that temporarily blinded the Filipino crew.

“The Ren’ai Reef (Ayungin Shoal) is part of China’s Nansha Islands. On Feb. 6, a (PCG) vessel intruded into the waters off the Ren’ai Reef without Chinese permission,” Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), said in a statement issued on Feb. 13.

Wenbin added that he hoped the Philippines would “respect China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and avoid taking any actions that may exacerbate disputes and complicate the situation.”

In this handout photo from the Presidential Communications Office, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (center) meets with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian (second from left) at  Malacanang Palace in Manila on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo handout from the Presidential Communications Office via Agence France-Presse)

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the PCG’s BRP Malapascua was undertaking a mission in support of the regular rotation and resupply for BRP Sierra Madre, the country’s permanent presence in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, when the CCG vessel 5205 interfered by first directing a military laser at the Philippine vessel.

It later took “dangerous maneuvers” by advancing at close proximity to the PCG, risking a collision that could have further endangered the lives of the Filipino crew.

False narrative

However, the Chinese official said the CCG “simply upheld China’s sovereignty and maritime order in accordance with their domestic laws and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).”

Reacting to China’s explanation, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said its MFA was “lying” in saying that the actions of the CCG were consistent with international laws, pointing out that Beijing’s so-called “nine-dash-line” claim had been voided by the international arbitral court in The Hague in a ruling in 2016.

“To China’s MFA, stop lying and stick to the truth: That China is using her military might to justify her blatant and dangerous disregard for international law, with her flimsy historical ‘claim’ as an excuse,” Hontiveros said. “Stop with the false narratives, end the lies, and get out of the West Philippine Sea.”

The lawmaker said Ayungin Shoal had already been declared by the arbitral tribunal as located within the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.

The Unclos also upheld the Philippines’ ownership of the West Philippine Sea, Hontiveros said. “The wider international community recognizes this. It is only China’s authoritarian government that seems to think otherwise.”

—WITH A REPORT FROM MARLON RAMOS

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