PH defense dept: China to blame for damage to its own reputation

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Department of National Defense (DND) slammed China anew on Thusday, March 19, criticizing it for the “farce” that is “calling for peaceful engagement” while also harassing Filipino fisherfolk using its navy ships. 

“The Department of National Defense rejects the PRC’s statements characterizing legal and legitimate Philippine maritime operations near Bajo de Masinloc as ‘a self-directed farce.’ Philippine operations in these waters are lawful, routine, and conducted in the exercise of the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction under international law,” DND spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said in a statement. 

“The PRC’s illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities in the West Philippine Sea are accurately documented and communicated to the public. The PRC is to blame for the world’s growing awareness of the cognitive illusion that it is trying to create in order to cover up the reputational damage it is inflicting upon itself,” he added. 

Bajo de Masinloc, known internationally as Scarborough Shoal, is a high-tied elevation that is among the flashpoints for tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. It is located just over 100 nautical miles away from Zambales province, which means it is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Although the 2016 Arbitral Award could not rule on the shoal’s sovereignty, it did find declare Scarborough Shoal the common fishing ground of fisherfolk from China, the Philippines, or Vietnam, which means that no country should restrict their access. China has controlled access to the shoal since 2012, however — for Philippine fisherfolk and government ships and planes, it has meant facing harassment as far out as 30 nautical miles from the shoal. 

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier rejected the claim of the Chinese embassy in the Philippines of a supposed letter from a former Philippine ambassador to “prove” that the Philippines had, at one point, conceded that it does not have sovereignty over Bajo de Masinloc. The DFA has also said that China’s broad South China Sea claims have no basis in history or international law. 

Andolong, addressing Beijing’s long-running claim that it’s Manila that is causing trouble in the South China Sea, added: “It is also not surprising that the government of the People’s Republic of China is assailing the Philippines’ transparency strategy. After all, transparency is abhorred by those who twist the truth and manipulate narratives to legitimize their unlawful acts and baseless claims.”

The “transparency strategy” refers to Manila’s efforts to publicize and internationalize Chinese harassment in what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, an area that includes the Philippine EEZ. – Rappler.com