MANILA, Philippines – No conflict is raging in the South China Sea
for now, but the word war has begun to escalate between the Department
of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Chinese embassy in Manila.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, embassy spokesperson Zhang Hua
said “the Chinese side is shocked” by DFA allegations that Ambassador Ma
Keqing has relayed to Beijing “incomplete, inaccurate and misleading
information” about her meetings on the Scarborough dispute with
Philippine foreign officials in Manila.
Earlier, at a two-hour press conference, Philippine Foreign Secretary
Albert del Rosario said the “element of trust” was lacking in DFA’s
series of meetings with the Chinese embassy in Manila, leading to
“inaccurate and misleading information” on which Beijing later premised
its “more aggressive” stance in the disputed territory.
But Zhang said his Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) “has made
representations to the Philippine embassy in Beijing for these
irresponsible remarks” about the territorial dispute and claims of
maritime jurisdiction over the shoal, known as “Panatag/Baja de
Masinloc” to Philippine officials and “Huangyan” to the Chinese.
Neither Del Rosario nor DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez could be reached for comments.
At the press conference, Del Rosario also said that he and Defense
Secretary Voltaire Gazmin are due to leave for Washington on Saturday,
April 28, for the long-scheduled 2+2 meeting with their US counterparts,
State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Part of Thursday's press briefing was on the Washington meeting, the
first such format for a discussion of bilateral issues. The
internationally-referred Scarborough Shoal would be in the agenda.
'Irresponsible remarks'
”The Chinese side is shocked by the DFA's recent comments on
Ambassador Ma Keqing's 'allegedly imcomplete, inaccurate and misleading'
relaying of information to Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has
made representations to the Philippine Embassy in Beijing for these
irresponsible remarks,” Zhang said in short remarks e-mailed to the
press.
”Since the beginning of the Huangyan Island incident, Ambassador Ma
and the Chinese embassy have been carrying out their duties faithfully
and effectively. They have worked tirelessly for the proper settlement
of the pending issue between the two countries and the sound and stable
development of bilateral relations.”
The Chinese side has been griping over the timing of the soon-to-be
concluded annual “Balikatan” joint military exercises between the
Philippines and the US, where China had not been invited in the combined
exercises portion despite a Manila-Beijing defense agreement inked in
2005.
China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the US are dialogue partners
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but only China
was left out in mostly table-top drills on disaster preparedness and
humanitarian assistance. ASEAN members Indonesia and Singapore
participated.
ASEAN is one of the fora that the Philippines has turned to for
support of its claim not only of Scarborough, west of the Philippine
province of Zambales, but also of the Spratlys group of islands west of
Palawan province.
ASEAN action
But ASEAN has not reacted so far to the multilateral approach—as
against the bilateral route espoused by China—that the Philippines
insists in settling its differences with Beijing. Beijing believes ASEAN
has no persona to deal with such territorial question.
Del Rosario noted though that while Washington is Manila’s treaty
ally, it has expressed agreement that there be “no use of force at all”
in settling the South China Sea issue and that negotiations for
settlement should be rules-based and in the purview of international
law.
The talks in Washington are in the context of freedom of navigation
and unimpeded commerce in the South China Sea, according to Del Rosario.
He said all countries with interest in the South China should be
concerned about its safety.
However, China prides itself in the fact that the "Nanhai," as they
call the South China Sea, is peaceful and there has been no conflict
there and that international navigation has been unobstructed.
With just at least two vessels on each side left at the lagoon, the
situation in Scarborough is for the moment seemingly “normal,” Del
Rosario noted.
But he also mentioned that there were two incidents on Wednesday of
fly-bys of “unidentified aircraft” over the area, one occurring around
midnight and the second at past 1 a.m. He did not elaborate.
Del Rosario took pains to explain why a fourth meeting between DFA’s
Maria Teresa Lazaro and Ambassador Ma occurred early this week at the
DFA headquarters.
Poaching of endangered species
He said that DFA wanted to reiterate that no agreement was reached
with Beijing early on regarding the presence of Chinese fishing and
surveillance vessels in Philippine territory, up until the time of the
fishermen’s departure from Scarborough with their harvest of endangered
species such as giant clams, sharks and corals.
The species were among those under study by the Philippines under its
Fisheries Code and the poaching was clearly a violation of
international laws on endangered species, he said.
DFA was incensed that while negotiations for how to solve the problem
peacefully were going on, in the spirit of the launching of the
China-Philippines Year of Foreign Exchanges, the Chinese vessel departed
for mainland China with their loot and was now beyond reach of
Philippine authorities.
“So there was no agreement,” according to Del Rosario, who expressed
that, on the contrary, this argument was used by Beijing to explain its
“more aggressive” stance in the stand-off. ”The element of truth” was
lacking in the messages relayed to Beijing, said Del Rosario.
While stressing anew that ASEAN’s support is part of DFA’s political
and diplomatic track on the impasse over the territorial claims, Del
Rosario said that it cannot tell ASEAN what to do.
US support
As a treaty ally, US support is there in terms of Manila maintaining
what he termed a “minimum credible defense stand” to augment the
country’s diplomatic capacity. The US advice is for the Philippines to
seek arbitration of its conflict with China through United Nations
instruments.
It appears that going to the International Tribunal on the Law of the
Sea (ITLOS) is not yet a foregone conclusion for the DFA, with Del
Rosario saying that four other fora are being contemplated. But the
details cannot yet be made public.
As far as ASEAN is concerned, Del Rosario said that in the Code of
Conduct (COC) for the parties claiming ownership in part or in whole of
the South China Sea, the Philippines reiterated that a framework for
naming the “major elements” segregating the “disputed” and “not
disputed” areas be set without China—even if it is a Dialogue Partner—in
the internal discussions.
“This would maintain the centrality of the ASEAN,” Del Rosario explained.
He admitted, though, that Manila “is running into a little problem
with that.” Cambodia, the current chair of the ASEAN and perceived to be
China’s close ally in the ASEAN, “believes that China should be invited
early so that it can be part of selecting the major element for the COC
and be part of the drafting committee.”
Aside from the diplomatic/political and legal tracks, del Rosario said the economic track is being considered.
But a joint cooperative effort “while shelving differences,” say, in
gas exploration, would be out of the question. ”I think for us to allow a
Chinese development modality in areas which are ours—clearly it has to
be under Philippine laws,” said Del Rosario.
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/InterAksyon.Com | April 27, 2012 |
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