THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against China over its imposition early this month of an annual fishing ban that would last for three months or until August this year in areas in the West Philippine Sea wherein the Philippines has “sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction. “
In a statement, the DFA said the diplomatic protest was filed on May 30.
The DFA said China’s declaration extends far beyond its legitimate maritime entitlements under the 1982 United Nation Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) and has no legal basis. The Philippines and China are both signatories to UNCLOS.
Aside from the UNCLOS, the DFA also cited the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which junked China’s sweeping claim in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
“Paragraph 716 of the final and binding Award on the South China Sea Arbitration rendered on 12 July 2016 states that China, by promulgating its moratorium on fishing in the South China Sea ‘without exception for areas of the South China Sea falling within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and without limiting the moratorium to Chinese flagged vessels, breached Article 56 of the UNCLOS with respect to the Philippines’ sovereign rights over the living resources of its exclusive economic zone,’” the DFA said.
Beijing’s unilateral fishing ban starts on May 1 and ends on August 16, 2022.
The DFA said the declaration of a moratorium on fishing that extends to the West Philippine Sea “has no basis in law, and undermines the mutual trust, confidence, and respect” between Manila and Beijing as affirmed most recently by President Duterte and President Xi Jinping during their Telesummit last April 6 this year.
“The Philippines calls on China to comply with its obligations under international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS and the final and binding Award on the South China Sea Arbitration; cease and desist from the conduct of illegal actions that violate the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in its maritime zones; and adhere to its commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” the DFA added.
The DFA has filed 231 diplomatic protests since 2016 against Chinese aggressive activities in its exclusive economic zone and territorial waters to no avail.
The DFA said it has also summoned a senior diplomat at the Chinese Embassy in Manila to protest the harassment by Chinese Coast Guard of Philippine vessels doing research works in the West Philippine Sea.
Though the statement did not say if the senior Chinese official summoned is Ambassador Huang Xilian, the DFA said it would take appropriate actions for any violation of the country’s sovereign rights within its maritime jurisdiction.
The DFA issued the statement a day after the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) published a report saying that Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels harassed Filipino vessels in three separate incidents over the last two months at Ayungin (Second Thomas Shoal) in the West Philippine Sea.
The AMTI report said a 60-meter research vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources from Palawan was tailed by Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels at “extremely close distances” of about 100 meters as it approached the shoal on April 21.
Several hours later, a Philippine Coast Guard multi-role response ship heading toward the shoal was also closely shadowed by Chinese vessels.
Ayungin shoal is located 194 kilometers off mainland Palawan, well within Manila’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
A small military contingent composed of Marines and Navy troopers onboard the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era landing ship tank intentionally grounded there in 1999, to serve as an outpost on the shoal.
“Illegal activities around Ayungin Shoal are subject of diplomatic protests, in the exercise of the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction over Ayungin Shoal, which forms part of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines as affirmed by the 2016 Award on the SCS arbitration,” the DFA said.
The DFA was referring to the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which junked China’s massive nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
