Almost 50 young Filipinos are camping on a remote Philippine-held island in the South China Sea in a symbolic stand against China’s claim to most of the waterway, officials said yesterday.
Organisers of the group, calling itself Kalayaan Atin Ito (“Kalayaan This Is Ours”), said that 47 members arrived on Saturday on the island of Pagasa, also known as Thitu, in the Spratlys chain.
The island is also claimed by Taiwan, which calls it Jhongye Island (中業島).
“Kalayaan,” the Filipino word for freedom, is also the name of a township established by the Philippines in the Spratlys to assert its claim to part of the island chain.
The Philippine government had opposed the landing, initiated by a former naval officer.
However, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesman Herminio Coloma yesterday said the government understood the group’s intentions.
“We recognize the patriotism of these youths that made them venture out,” he told reporters.
However, he also reiterated that they should seek “alternative ways” to show their support, expressing concern for their safety in traveling the 500km from the western Philippine island of Palawan to the tiny island of Pagasa.
Photographs and messages posted by the group on their Web site showed them posing on a beach.
A message on a Facebook page also urged Aquino to “inform the people correctly without sugar coating the truth about Chinese invasion of our Exclusive Economic Zone.”
Members of the group had previously accused the government of not doing enough to stand up to China.
A coordinator of the group, Joy Ban-eg, told reporters that the 47 men and women had arrived on Saturday on a chartered launch and would depart today.
She said China had not attempted to block them from reaching the island, adding that they would consult the local residents and the military detachment.
However, their voyage itself was an act of defiance against China, she said.
She cited the international arbitration case now pending in The Hague where the Philippines is challenging China’s territorial claims.
China has refused to recognize the proceedings.
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