By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
THE Philippines on Wednesday rejected China’s claim that it had allowed a civilian vessel from the Southeast Asian nation to deliver supplies to a military outpost in the South China Sea, saying it does not need Beijing’s approval.
“Any type of mission to that ship is well within the rights of the Philippine Navy and of the country, and needs no approval from any foreign power,” Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent T. Trinidad told BusinessWorld in a Viber message on Wednesday.
The China Coast Guard (CCG) on Tuesday said it had allowed a Philippine civilian vessel to deliver supplies to BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era ship that Manila beached at Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to asserts its claim. It has a handful of soldiers there.
China’s coast guard conducted “inquiries, verification and full supervision” throughout the resupply mission on May 16, according to a China Military Online report.
The disputed shoal has been a source of tension between Manila and Beijing, whose bigger coast guard and navy vessels frequently fire water cannons at smaller Philippine ships during resupply missions.
The two reached a provisional agreement in July last year for such operations.
The CCG urged the Philippines to “honor its commitments” and work with it to keep the situation at the shoal under control, according to the report published on the military news website sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army.
“The CCG will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in the Nansha Qundao, including the Ren’ai Jiao, and their adjacent waters in accordance with law,” coast guard spokesman Liu Dejin said in the news report, referring to the Spratly Islands and Second Thomas Shoal by their Chinese names.
The Philippine Navy is committed to safeguarding the integrity of the country’s territory, Mr. Trinidad said, adding that it would not “tolerate any disrespect to our sovereignty.”
“Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal is a low-tide elevation within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, and as such, the country exercises sovereign rights over it in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he added.
Manila and Beijing have repeatedly locked horns over maritime features that both nations claim in the South China Sea, leading to confrontations that involve the use of water cannons and repeated sideswipes by Chinese vessels against Philippine ships.
Manila has condemned such acts as aggressive and unlawful, while Beijing maintains its actions are meant to defend Chinese sovereignty.
China claims nearly all of the potentially mineral- and oil-rich South China Sea based on a 1940s nine-dash line map that overlaps with the exclusive waters of the Philippines and neighbors like Vietnam and Malaysia.
