By Jinky Jorgio
Manila-- The Philippines is developing its capability to protect its exclusive economic zone and secure the country’s territorial claims over the disputed West Philippine Sea, where China's aggression remains unabated.
Chinese militia and Coast Guard have continued their blocking maneuvers at Second Thomas Shoal and the harassment of the Philippines' resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre.
On March 5, four Philippine Navy officers were injured when the Chinese Coast Guard fired water cannons at a Philippine ship conducting a rotation and resupply mission. The supply boat's windshield was shattered, while another resupply ship was blocked and rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard causing minor damage to its sides.
“Chinese Coast Guard is responsible for their action. They deliberately cause trouble and maliciously incite fights. And they spread fake news that we the Filipinos are doing these," said Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council.
"Let me ask this: who is blocking who and making dangerous maneuvers? Who is deploying water cannons on our ships while we exercise our sovereign rights and jurisdiction under international law? Is it the Philippines? No! It is China!”
China's water cannon attack was repeated on March 23, drawing condemnation from the United States. Matthew Miller, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, said China's actions prevented normal personnel rotations and deprived Filipino service members at Second Thomas Shoal of necessary provisions.
"This incident marks only the latest in China's repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and disruption of supply lines to this longstanding outpost," he said, noting that China's "destabilizing actions in the region show a clear disregard for international law."
The Philippine military regularly conducts operations to deliver supplies and transport Navy and Marines personnel to the BRP Sierra Madre, a Navy warship that was deliberately grounded by the Philippine military in the shallows of Ayungin Shoal in the late 1990s to serve as a territorial outpost.
The Department of Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have launched an initiative called "Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept."
"In plain language, we are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and EEZ to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours within our domain,” Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said.
Teodoro announced the initiative after Chinese President Xi Jinping called on his armed forces to coordinate preparations for military conflicts at sea as he pushed Beijing's claim and maritime interests in the disputed territory. Xi issued the order at the annual parliament meeting with the delegation of the People’s Liberation Army and the Armed Police Force.
In July 2016, an international arbitration tribunal The Hague issued a legally binding decision holding that China had no lawful maritime claims to the waters around Second Thomas Shoal, which falls within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.
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“The Philippines has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the resupply mission at Ayungin Shoal. It is a lawful activity well within the exercise of our rights," said Teresita Daza, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest against China and tried to summon Chinese embassy officials in the Philippines. Daza said this was Manila's sixth protest against Beijing this year.
Since June 2022, the Philippines has lodged a total of 142 protests, which came in different forms including note verbal, personal calls from the Philippine president and meetings between diplomatic counterparts.
Navy Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said the Philippines would abide by the rules of engagement, assuring Filipinos that the Navy is ready to protect the nation's territory. “They are red lines for the Philippines, to the armed forces,” he said.
He said the Philippine forces would not allow any structure to be erected in another hotly contested South China Sea or Scarborough Shoal. China has surrounded a vast fishing atoll northwest of the Philippines with coast guards and suspected militia ships after the international tribunal rejected the nine-dash claim of China in the West Philippine Sea.
Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos of the Philippine military's Western Command vowed to continue the operations in the West Philippine Sea despite China's continuous harassment.
“The troops were undeterred and would not yield. Our operations in the West Philippine Sea will continue along with our patrols and exercise of our sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” Carlos said. “The BRP Sierra Madre is the symbol of our sovereignty and we will do everything to ensure that it will stay there. The rotation and resupply will continue”.
In Washington, Miller invoked the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, which he said supported the binding nature of the 2016 arbitral decision in favor of the Philippines.
"The United States calls upon the PRC to abide by the ruling and desist from its dangerous and destabilizing conduct," Miller said. "The United States reaffirms that Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including those of its Coast Guard – anywhere in the South China Sea."
