China has urged the Philippines to stop its maritime exercises in the disputed territory in the South China Sea, warning it would escalate the dispute there.
In his regular press conference on April 26, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin reasserted China's claims over the Nansha Islands or Spratly Islands, despite the 2016 arbitral ruling rendered in 2016 by Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidating its expansive 9-dash line claims over the disputed waterways and upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea.
China has refused to recognize the arbitral court ruling.
"China enjoys sovereignty over Nansha Islands including Zhongye Island and Zhongsha Islands including Huangyan Island and their adjacent waters, and exercises jurisdiction in relevant waters," Wenbin said, when sought for comment on the Philippine Coast Guard’s maritime drills in the West Philippine Sea.
"We urge the relevant side to respect China's sovereignty and rights and interests, and stop actions complicating the situation and escalating disputes," Wenbin said.
Over the weekend, eight capital ships of Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources conducted sovereignty patrols at the West Philippine Sea despite the presence of several Chinese ships.
Reports indicated that more maritime drills will also be held at Batanes Group of Islands, Benham Rise, and the southern areas of the Philippines.
Recent reports also showed that 14 Chinese militia vessels of the more than 200 ships earlier sighted moored at the Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef in the West Philippine Sea were still there.
The Philippines has filed numerous diplomatic protests against China over the continued presence of its ships within the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile, four more senators—Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senators Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel III, and Pia Cayetano—signed a resolution condemning the illegal activities of the People’s Republic of China in the country’s EEZ and other parts of the West Philippine Sea.
The resolution was authored by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and co-authored by Senator President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, and Senators Nancy Binay, Leila De Lima, Richard Gordon, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid, Francis Pangilinan, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, and Bong Revilla.
Hontiveros said the government should keep on defending the country’s sovereignty and protecting the Filipino people by continuously asserting the Philippine victory at Hague.
“The more that we consistently amplify our voices, the more that China will be forced to finally rethink her actions,” Hontiveros said.
“We cannot shirk our collective responsibility to defend the Philippines. China’s overreaching ambitions should never be at the expense of any country, and therefore, her moves that endanger any nation should be blocked at every turn,” Hontiveros said.
Meanwhile, maritime exercises of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in the West Philippine Sea are currently underway.
In a Facebook post over the weekend, the Coast Guard said crew members of their participating vessels, as well as PCG-manned BFAR vessels “have started their intensified training on navigation, small boat operations, maintenance, and logistical operations” as part of efforts to safeguard Philippine waters.
PCG Spokesperson Commodore Armando Balilo said the maritime exercises are necessary to train both the PCG and BFAR's personnel since their mandate includes performing maritime law enforcement.
The exercises meant that the Philippines, this time, is serious in asserting its rights, according to Collin Koh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
"The PCG drill in the area wouldn't come across as anything more than just a small nuisance to Beijing and won't have any salutary effect that would change China's behavior," Koh told ABS-CBN News.
"At best, the exercise along with the ramped-up Philippine presence in the Spratlys would signal to Beijing that Manila this time means business following the unprecedentedly robust response after the Whitsun Reef (Julian Felipe Reef) revelation last month," he added.
These, however, will not amount "much to a challenge" to what he described as Beijing's "effective control" of the Scarborough Shoal since 2012.
The Senate resolution asserts that China’s activities are in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines. It makes clear that China refusing to play by international rules “must be firmly resisted and denounced.”
The resolution also states that “neither close diplomatic and political ties nor promise of donations, aids or loans, whether they actually materialize or not, should be mistaken as acceptance of China’s creeping hegemony over our region and country.”
Hontiveros said the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, as well as Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Indonesia have pushed back against China’s recent actions in the South China Sea.
“I am one with my colleagues in the Senate in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, China’s incessant activities in the WPS. We are united in our call for China to uphold the rule of law and to respect our country’s sovereignty," she said
Gordon on Tuesday called on Filipinos to adapt the mind-set of the Filipino warrior chieftain Lapu-Lapu when it comes to opposing foreign intrusion in the West Philippine Sea.
“Filipinos are never push-overs when it comes to defending our freedom and territory. We have a long and glorious history of being warriors against foreign intrusion and invasion, stretching from 1521 to the Second World War," Gordon said.
Malacañang said it respects the position of the senators on China’s activities in the West Philippine Sea, even though the resolution is a departure from the administration’s non-confrontational policies.
Also on Tuesday, the commander of the US 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade (5SFAB) said American military advisers would train with Philippine Army troopers in the next few days at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.
“We are very excited to train with our Philippine partners,” said Capt. Oleg Sheynfeld, commander of the 5SFAB in the country.
Sheynfeld added that they will conduct subject matter expert exchanges to increase interoperability between American and Filipino forces across the spectrum of military operations.
US soldiers will learn and train alongside Philippine partners, sharing best practices and collaborating on areas of mutual interest, and laying the groundwork for future exercises between the two nations.
“The Philippine Army and US Army bilateral training aims to enhance the capabilities and interoperability of both forces in conventional, joint and combined operations as it promotes solidarity in the global fight against terror in all its forms,” said Philippine Army spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala.
At full capacity, the 5th SFAB operates with 820 professional advisors specially selected, trained, and equipped to advise, support, liaise, and assess with conventional partner security forces from the battalion to corps levels to build capacity in support of regional security. When called upon, the unit can employ up to 61 advisor teams to integrate with conventional foreign partner security forces.
