PROTEST | Philippines rejects China’s moves to give Chinese names on features in disputed sea

April 30, 2020 , 07:50 PM

By Manny Mogato, News5 editor-at-large

(April 30, 2020) – The Philippines strongly objected China’s recent move to declare two districts in the contested South China Sea as well as give Chinese names to dozens of half-submerged reefs, atolls and small islands.

Last week, Manila filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing after it created “Nansha” and “Xisha” districts in the South China Sea, which covers the Philippine-occupied territories in the Spratly, known as Kalayaan Island Group as well as the Scarborough shoal in Luzon.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement on Thursday, re-asserting its territorial claims on the strategic waterway believed to have rich deposits of energy and mineral resources.

“The Philippines also objects to and does not recognize the Chinese names given to some features in the Kalayaan Island Group,” the foreign affairs said in a statement.

“The establishment and supposed extent of jurisdiction of “Sansha City” of which the new two districts are part, violate Philippine territorial sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc, and infringes on Philippine sovereign rights over the waters and continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea where an estimated $3 trillion worth of sea-borne goods pass every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have conflicting claims in the sea.

The Philippines also called on China “to adhere to international law, including the UNCLOS, as well as to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, specifically Paragraph 5 thereof, under which parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.”

The Philippine government has protested since 2012 China’s unlawful establishment of Sansha City and the extent of its administrative jurisdiction, which encompasses Philippine territory and maritime zones in the West Philippine Sea.

“It does not recognize Sansha, nor its constituent units, nor any subsequent acts emanating from them,” it added.

The Philippines also protested the illegal designation of Kagitingan Reef within the KIG as administrative center for the so-called “Nansha district”.

Kagitingan Reef is within the Kalayaan Island Group and is thus an integral part of Philippine territory, the DFA said.

In July 2016, the Philippines won unanimous award issued by an international tribunal, constituted under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in an arbitration case filed by the Philippines to complain China’s excessive claims and illegal actions in the South China Sea.

China did not recognize the court’s ruling and the administration of Rodrigo Duterte did not insist to invoke the ruling and force China to comply with the court’s decision.

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