Political analysts and maritime regulation specialists doubted China’s sincerity in defusing tensions within the South China Sea as Beijing continued to push for the elimination of the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal.
Over the weekend Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi referred to as on the Philippines to work with China to hunt an efficient method to defuse tensions after its Coast Guard illegally used water cannons on Philippine vessels which had been a part of a resupply mission to the Ayungin Shoal.
Local specialists, nevertheless, expressed doubts about Beijing’s sincerity on condition that simply final week it accused the Philippines of looking for to “permanently occupy” the Ayungin Shoal, because it demanded the elimination of the BRP Sierra Madre which it claimed was promised by the Philippines.
The BRP Sierra Madre has been on the Ayungin Shoal since 1999. The ship manned by greater than a dozen Marines and sailors has turn out to be an emblem of Philippine sovereignty within the offshore territory.
Ayungin is situated 105.77 nautical miles from the closest Philippine province of Palawan and constitutes a part of the nation’s 200-nautical mile continental shelf as supplied beneath the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“Walang any evidence na pinangako natin na aalisin natin ang BRP Sierra Madre, wala,” Renato De Castro, a political analyst and professor from the De La Salle University (DLSU), stated in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.
(There is not any proof that we promised to take away the BRP Sierra Madre. None.)
“Maraming collective hallucination itong bansa na ito, no (This country has a lot of collective hallucination),” Dr. Froilan Calilung, a professor on the Political Science Department of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) stated in the identical report.
Malacañang has since come out to make clear that the Philippine authorities had made no promise to take away the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal on the West Philippine Sea.
China’s remarks got here after its Coast Guard used “dangerous maneuvers and illegal use of water cannons” in opposition to vessels of the Philippine Coast Guard which had been escorting indigenous boats to ship meals, water, gas, and different provides to army troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre.
According to LTJG Richard Lonogan, the workforce chief of Unaizah May 2 which was one of many vessels within the incident, it might appear as if the Chinese ships had been aiming for his or her smokestacks.
“So ‘pag napasukan kasi ng tubig ‘yan, didiretso ‘yan sa makina. ‘Pag dumiretso ‘yan sa makina, ibig sabihin wala na tayong propulsion,” he said.
(If water enters that, it will go straight to the engine and if that happens, we no longer have propulsion.)
“Galit tayo don sa ginawa nila… Hindi nila kino-consider ‘yung buhay ng mga nandon,” LTJG Darwin Datwin said.
(We are mad at what they did… They do not consider the lives of the people there.)
Several countries — led by the United States, Australia, Japan, and Canada — expressed support for Manila and criticized China’s actions, the latest in the string of several reported incidents of harassment against Philippine vessels this year.
Beijing, meanwhile, claimed that the Philippine ships intruded into the Ayungin Shoal and violated its laws when it conducted the resupply mission.
“‘Yung ginagawa nga ng China, nag-iingat sila na hindi ito magmukhang blockade, na full-blown blockade… ‘Yun talaga ang style nila, ika nga, para hindi masabi ng mundo na they are committing an act of aggression,” maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal said.
(What China is doing, they are being cautious that this does not look like a blockade, a full-blown blockade. That is their style so the world cannot say that they are committing an act of aggression.)
For his part, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said China should not resort to hostility as it will only be blamed for the consequences.
“They should not resort to actions that are hostile, that are in violation of international law, that will endanger people’s lives,” he stated. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
