MANILA, Philippines – The 1990 document published by the Chinese Embassy in Manila disputing the Philippines’ territorial claims to the Scarborough Shoal is “without value,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
DFA Maritime Affairs Spokesperson Rogelio Villanueva Jr. made the remark two days after the Chinese embassy presented as “legal evidence” a correspondence between former Philippine Ambassador to Germany Bienvenido A. Tan, Jr., and German radio operator Dieter Löffler.
“As regards the recent letter posted by the Chinese Embassy in Manila, the DFA will not engage in conjecture or speculation over a document of uncertain origin and authenticity, and certainly without value,” Villanueva said at a press briefing.
He continued, saying, “There is no merit in debating supposed documentary artifacts produced by third parties and presented as posts on social media, especially if these third parties have vested interests and willfully misconstrue and misrepresent established facts.”
In the document from February 5, 1990, Tan told Löffler, “According to the Philippine National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, the Scarborough Reef or Huangyan Dao does not fall within the territorial sovereignty of the Philippines. It is 10 miles off the line drawn under the Treaty of Paris; however, the area is within the 200-mile Philippine economic zone.”
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Villanueva further asserted once again the Philippines’ claim not only in the Scarborough Shoal, but also in the Kalayaan Island Group.
“The Philippines likewise consistently exercised and upheld sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its archipelago and other territories, including Bajo de Masinloc and the high-tide features of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which is incontrovertible and firmly founded on international law and effective administration,” he pressed.
According to Villanueva, the Philippines has exercised its sovereignty through detailed hydrographic surveys, government correspondence, the demolition of Philippine authorities of illegal structures by the Philippine authorities, and designation as target range of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
“Sovereignty is not merely claimed — it is exercised. The Philippines has done precisely that, consistently and without interruption,” Villanueva stressed.
The Scarborough Shoal, locally known as the Bajo Masinloc, lies within the long-disputed West Philippine Sea 124 nautical miles off Masinloc, Zambales, and within the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
China has been claiming sovereignty over the shoal, which they call “Huangyan Dao.” In 2012, the Philippine air forces found Chinese fishermen collecting marine resources in the shoal, violating their duty to respect the fishing rights of Filipinos, according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
It was the PCA who ruled in favor of the Philippines’ claim in the South China Sea in 2016, confirming that China’s historic claims over the body of water have no legal basis under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. /mr