By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINES does not plan to engage in defense talks with China after a standoff at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on June 17, its Defense chief said on Tuesday.
“They (China) have the tendency to use these talks against us,” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. told a Senate hearing that is looking into last week’s incident, where bolo-wielding Chinese Coast Guard men on rubber boats allegedly threatened Filipino soldiers.
“They have not proven a level of good faith that would warrant our sensitive department to talk to them,” he added.
A Philippine Navy officer lost his thumb after the rubber boat he was in was rammed by the Chinese, according to the military. The Chinese Coast Guard also looted several rifles stored in gun cases, actions that military chief Romeo S. Brawner, Jr. said only “pirates” do.
Mr. Teodoro issued the remarks after Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos asked him whether his agency has plans to talk to its Chinese counterpart.
The Defense chief said there won’t be any talks until “fundamental processes” are settled.
On Monday, he said the Philippines would not announce the schedule of its resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila grounded a World War II-era ship in 1999 to bolster its sea claim.
He called the June 17 incident neither a misunderstanding nor an accident but a “deliberate act” of Chinese forces.
Manila is trying to hold talks with China to discuss the sea dispute including the blocking of the June 17 resupply mission to the grounded BRP Sierra Madre, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo told senators.
“We still believe in the primacy of dialogue, and diplomacy should prevail even in the face of these serious incidents, though I admit it’s also a challenge,” he said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week spoke with Mr. Manalo on the phone to discuss Chinese actions in the South China Sea, which Manila and Washington have called escalatory.
Mr. Blinken said China’s actions “undermine regional peace and stability” and reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to its Mutual Defense Treaty with Manila.
Second Thomas Shoal has been a flashpoint in recent months between the countries. The atoll lies within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile maritime zone, which China claims as its own.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. A United Nations-backed tribunal in the Hague in 2016 voided its sweeping claims for being illegal.
“We sternly communicated to our counterparts that it was really incomprehensible how the delivery of basic necessities to our troops on the BRP Sierra Madre could be considered a provocation that would justify an increased level of Chinese actions,” Mr. Manalo said.
The two countries held a working group meeting last week in preparation for a potential bilateral consultation mechanism meeting in July, Mr. Manalo said.
“Whatever confidence-building measures we achieve, they will be not at the expense of promotion of our sovereignty, sovereign rights, as well as our rights and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea,” he said, referring to areas of the South China within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Meanwhile, the Armed Force of the Philippines said it had spotted China’s biggest coast guard ship near its outpost at Second Thomas Shoal.
The presence of China Coast Guard 5901, the world’s largest coast guard ship also known as The Monster, near BRP Sierra Madre is part of a broader pattern of “intrusive patrols aimed at asserting unlawful claims over areas within the Philippines’ EEZ,” it said in a statement.
It said the 12,000-ton vessel’s presence in the area is “illegal, coercive and contrary to the spirit of maintaining peace and stability in the region.”
The ship this week visited several hotspots in the South China Sea that fall within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) such as Thitu Island, Second Thomas Shoal, Flat Island, Nanshan Island, and Sabina Shoal, said Raymond M. Powell, a fellow at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the ship was just 40 nautical miles from the Philippine province of Palawan, he said, citing satellite imagery. — with Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
