China yesterday slammed the passage of a US Senate resolution condemning the use of force in the disputed waters in Southeast Asia, saying it “turns a blind eye to facts.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US resolution “confuses right and wrong, and thus does not hold water.” “We hope relevant US senators do more for regional peace and stability,” a transcription of Hong’s press briefing in Beijing read.
Hong said the dispute with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries revolves around islets and reefs comprising Spratly Islands, which the Chinese call Nansha. There are also disputes over demarcation of territories, he said.
He stressed that concerned parties should settle their differences bilaterally through direct negotiation.
Hong said free navigation in the South China Sea has never been affected by the disputes.
The US Senate resolution calls on all parties to resolve relevant disputes through multilateral and peaceful means.
It also said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should be the basis for resolving the dispute and calls on the US armed forces to take action to ensure free navigation in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) lauded the resolution sponsored by senators Jim Webb and Jim Inhofe.
“It is imperative for concerned parties to take concrete steps to ease tensions in the area through dialogues and diplomacy. We urge all claimant-countries to seriously consider our proposal to transform the area from a zone of dispute into a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation (ZoPFF/C),” the DFA said.
In introducing the resolution, Webb said it is now time for the US to “back (its) policy with action.”
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario met with Webb in Washington a few days after the resolution was filed.
Meanwhile, a Filipino-American group called US Pinoys for Good Governance chaired by entrepreneur Loida Nicolas Lewis is set to picket outside Chinese consular offices across the US on Friday to protest China’s planned deployment of a giant deepwater oil-drilling platform in the West Philippine Sea this month.
“As Filipinos in America work feverishly to prepare for protest actions in front of all the Chinese consular offices in the US on July 8, the question is asked: Why aren’t Filipinos in the Philippines similarly incensed by China’s plans to set up oil rigs in the Spratly islands territory of the Philippines this July,” Rodel Rodis, a San Francisco, California-based lawyer posted at Global Balita website yesterday.
“Please stand up to the China Bully and demonstrate in front of a China consulate on July 8 at noon wherever you are, even if you are in the Philippines,” Rodis said.
More patrols
The Philippines will deploy more vessels in areas in the West Philippine Sea where 15 private companies are set to search for oil and gas, according to Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag.
Liwag said the PCG would add one more vessel to its force of two patrol boats in the waters of Palawan, which is believed to hold large deposits of oil and gas.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), for its part, would be fielding five of its Monitoring and Control Surveillance vessels to the area to provide support. The BFAR vessels would be manned by PCG personnel.
“We have beefed up our inter-agency task force or protection body and the PCG would provide the leadership in terms of law enforcement,” Liwag said. “The PCG would head the coordinating body.”
Liwag said the other members of the task force are the Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, and the Philippine National Police.
“There would be an integration of government agencies. We are committing our resources there to make sure we are able to patrol not only the territorial waters and the contiguous zone but also the exclusive economic zone and our occupied islands and the undisputed islands. The Philippine government as a whole, would commit more (ships),” he said.
Liwag said he met with Australian Ambassador Rod Smith during the start yesterday of the five-day Search and Rescue Workshop hosted by the PCG and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
Liwag said they discussed the “conduct of security operations involving Mobile Offshore Drilling Units.”
He told the ambassador that the PCG would lead patrol the waters around oil exploration sites.
“They are interested since they also have some companies that were granted with service contracts or maybe they are applying for oil exploration permit in that area,” he said.
The Search and Rescue (SAR) Workshop, organized by the PCG and the AMSA, would be attended by 25 officials from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NRRMC), the Philippine National Police, Philippine Navy, Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force (PAF), and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
“There is always room for improvement. There are always things that we can do better. No country has got it right so we are pleased to work with the Philippine Coast Guard and other agencies to build our respective capabilities,” said Smith.
“SAR is always a very demanding area in maritime security. The Philippines is a country that sadly faces a lot of typhoons and other heavy weather. The country also relies on maritime transport and a lot of ferries and inevitably incidents are going to take place and will always test the capability of any country,” Smith added.
Liwag said the holding of the workshop is in line with the declaration of July as the National Disaster Consciousness Month based on Executive Order 137, issued on Aug. 10, 1999.
“We have to enhance our platforms, boats and ships that can go beyond the 50-nautical mile (zone) because some of the accidents happen far from the baseline or far from the land. So we have to acquire more vessels,” Liwag added. – Evelyn Macairan
