Defense chief Gazmin, Chinese official agree to dialogue

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin met Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie, for the first time since the standoff in the Panatag (Scarborough)  Shoal began on April 10.

The two defense chiefs met on Friday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Defense Ministers Meeting in Cambodia.

China is one of the dialogue partners of the 10 member-nations of Asean which is composed of the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos.

The Philippines, China, Taiwan and three other Asean members, namely, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are locked in a territorial dispute over the Spratlys group of islands in the West Philippine (South China) Sea.

In a statement issued Friday, the Department of National Defense said Gazmin and his Chinese counterpart agreed to keep the communication lines open while the two countries were facing “difficulties.”

“Secretary Gazmin was of the view that channels of communication should be kept (open) between the two defense ministers,” read the statement.

According to the DND statement, Liang said they should “stay calm (and) make prudent remarks…to avoid overstatements and misinterpretations by other parties.”

He also said both sides should “observe restraint” in their actions.

According to the DND, Gazmin defended the Philippine Navy’s move on April 10 to intercept the eight Chinese fishing vessels that were found to have illegally harvested a big quantity of endangered corals, giant clams and live sharks in Panatag Shoal. He defended the Philippine Navy after Liang protested the attempt to arrest the Chinese fishermen.

Gazmin said the Philippine Navy ship, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, was en route to northern Luzon to track the North Korean missile launch when it received reports of unidentified vessels in  Panatag Shoal.

Gazmin said the Navy verified that the eight vessels were illegally collecting endangered marine species.

Chinese maritime surveillance ships, however, prevented the Navy, and later the Coast Guard, from arresting the Chinese poachers

Philippine officials point out that Panatag Shoal is 124 nautical miles (230 kilometers) from the nearest basepoint in Zambales province, well within the Philippines’ 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

But China invokes a historical claim on the shoal, which is 472 nautical miles (875 kilometers) from its coast. Dona Z. Pazzibugan