Defense Sec. Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. —Photo from the official Facebook page of the DND
MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. reiterated on Saturday that the Philippines should focus on its own goals, rather than China’s opinions on the country’s defense cooperation engagements.
“Don’t listen to China,” Teodoro told journalists at the Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro City, which is one of nine sites in the country that hosts US facilities.
“We have our own goals regardless of what China thinks,” he said, repeating earlier remarks that questioned China’s credibility in the international community.
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Lumbia Air Base has been designated as one of the sites covered by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States. It is also the only Mindanaoan site in the agreement.
China has often been hostile toward the increased US military presence in the Philippines, viewing it as a potential threat to regional stability and a challenge to China’s growing influence in the South China Sea.
Teodoro stressed Lumbia’s strategic importance as a major operating base to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ missions in Mindanao.
It would also house the newly approved Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief warehouse, which, once completed, is expected to support the rapid deployment of essential supplies.
While the United States would be footing most of the bills for improvements in the base, Teodoro called on Congress to make sure they have enough funding for maintenance, among others.
Chinese research vessels
At the same time, however, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), reported that it spotted three Chinese research vessels off the coasts of Cagayan, Davao Oriental and even tourist Siargao Island in the past week.
However, China had earlier claimed “innocent passage” after the Philippines earlier complained on Chinese trespassing in the country’s territory.
The right of innocent passage, which is universally recognized under international law, like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), “allows ships and aircraft to travel through another country’s territorial waters or airspace in a peaceful and nonthreatening manner.”
Article 19 of the Unclos defines innocent passage as “passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State.”
PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela identified the vessels as Xiang Yang Hong 3, Jia Geng and Xiang Yang Hong 10.
They were first seen on Nov. 17, at a distance of 257 nautical miles northeast of Santa Ana, Cagayan.
As of Saturday morning, he said the PCG monitored them 210 nautical miles east of the surfing paradise, Siargao Island.
Additional details from a separate news release by the PCG showed that these vessels were observed twice within our 200 nautical mile limit. The first instance was near Davao Oriental on Nov. 14, and again off Siargao Island on Nov. 20.
Tarriela said that while the three vessels were currently outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EZZ), he assured they are “still monitoring their movement because at some point, they entered our EEZ in previous days.”
He added they were not sure if these were the same research vessels they spotted three weeks ago and which were shooed away by the Japanese Navy.
Tarriela said these vessels can claim to be conducting a documentation of data for tide and even the seabed.”
“But we can only speculate as long as we don’t know the intention of China why they are conducting this research near our EEZ,” he added.
“I agree that there must be a compelling reason for the Chinese government to deploy three research vessels all at the same time in one particular area,” he said.