MANILA, Philippines—Banking on diplomacy to resolve territorial
disputes with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Malacañang is
distancing itself from the US criticism of a Chinese plan to put up a garrison
on a tiny island in a distant part of the disputed waters.
Prominent US senators on Thursday
declared the Chinese move provocative and a possible violation of international
law.
US State Department spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said the United States was pressing all parties to work on a
code of conduct for the West Philippine Sea, and was concerned by “unilateral
moves.”
Nuland said, “There’s a concern
here that they are beginning to take actions when we want to see all of these
issues resolved at the table.”
Own stand
On Saturday, one of President
Aquino’s press officers steered the Palace away from the US statements.
“Well, we do not know how our
friends in China will take that,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail
Valte said on state-run dzRB radio. She refused to comment on the US statements,
saying the Philippine government had its own position on the Chinese plan to
garrison Woody Island in the Paracels.
The government is getting “good
results” from diplomatic efforts to resolve the Philippines’ territorial
dispute with China peacefully, Valte said.
She said the disputes over
Panatag Shoal off western Luzon and the Kalayaan Islands in the Spratlys were
“just one of the facets of our multifaceted relationship with China.”
“We continue to talk to our
counterparts for other things that concern the relationship,” Valte said.
Diplomatic protest
The Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing on Tuesday and
handed her a note protesting China’s plans to establish a military garrison on
Woody Island and the arrival of a large Chinese fishing fleet in the Spratlys.
China proceeded with its plans
anyway. On Friday, China named two senior military officials to head the
garrison on Woody Island. Senior Col. Cai Xihong was named garrison commander
and Senior Col. Liao Chaoyi was appointed as the garrison’s political
commissar.
The Philippines has no
territorial claims in the Paracels, but the DFA says China’s plan to administer
the island group and the Spratlys from Sansha municipality on Woody Island is
unacceptable.
President Aquino called for
restraint, refusing to comment on the military’s report that some vessels from
the Chinese fishing fleet vessels had moved near the Philippine-occupied
Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys.
Twenty of the fishing vessels
were within 9 kilometers of the island, seat of government of the Kalayaan
municipality in Palawan province, as of Tuesday, according to the military’s
Naval Forces West in Palawan.
There were reports on Saturday
that the Chinese fishing boats were moving away from the Philippine border.
Treaty review
Sen. Gregorio Honasan wants to
know whether the United States believes in the Philippines’ claims in the West
Philippine Sea that “China appears to be annexing one by one.”
Honasan, a former military
officer, wants a performance review of the Philippines’ bilateral agreements
with other countries to see whether these are doing the country any good amid
threats posed by China’s increasing aggressiveness in the West Philippine Sea.
“We have the Mutual Defense
Treaty, we have the Visiting Forces Agreement,” Honasan said by phone on
Saturday. “Perhaps what we need to ask the US is whether they believe in our
claim or not,” he said, referring to territories in the West Philippine Sea
within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
How much?
Honasan also mentioned the
commitment made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to help the
Philippines put up a “minimum, credible defense.”
“We can’t stop there,” Honasan
said. “We have to ask when, where, how and, if we’re feeling rather cocky, how
much?”
Honasan said the Philippines must
be getting just a fraction of the US military aid to Pakistan. And yet it was
in Pakistan that al-Qaida supremo Osama bin Laden had been hiding for more than
a decade until the United States traced him there last year and killed him.
Honasan noted that the United
States does not want to take sides in the West Philippine Sea territorial
disputes. If that is so, he said, the United States can play “global policeman”
and keep the contending parties in the West Philippine Sea disputes from
getting into direct confrontations.
He suggested a performance audit
of the Philippines’ security agreements with the United States and other
countries.
“If we can’t get anything from
these agreements, why should we still have these agreements?” Honasan said.
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