The Philippine government yesterday released what it says are surveillance pictures of Chinese coast guard ships and barges at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, in an apparent diplomatic gambit to publicize its concerns at a regional summit being attended by China’s premier and Southeast Asian leaders.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plans to ask Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) at the summit in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, whether the vessels were on another island-making mission on the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島).
China has built seven artificial islands in the disputed, resource-rich sea, alarming neighbors and rival claimants.
Photo: AP
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said that Beijing had not done anything to alter the circumstances in the waters surrounding the shoal.
“What I can tell you is that the situation in waters near Huangyan Island remains unchanged and China hasn’t made any new moves,” Hua said in Beijing. “We should be highly alert against the mischief-making intentions of people who spread such groundless information in such situations.”
Asked how disturbed Manila was by the presence of the Chinese ships, Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, told a news conference: “Enough to announce it.”
He said that China and the Philippines were discussing the issue, but gave no details.
“There are talks at this stage,” Abella said.
He refused to comment if the Philippine policy was to prevent any country from constructing at or transforming Scarborough, a coral reef, into an island.
If the Chinese government confirms the photographs, the Philippines will lodge an official protest, Philippine Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana said.
Duterte has taken a more reconciliatory track to rebuild relations with China and has said he would not raise the long-simmering territorial disputes in an adversarial manner that might upset Beijing.
Relations were severely strained under Duterte’s predecessor because of the conflict.
However, Duterte expressed alarm after a Philippine surveillance plane recently spotted four Chinese coast guard ships and four suspected barges, including one equipped with what appeared to be a crane. The government released the photographs with a diagram showing the vessels’ exact locations at the shoal, which the Chinese coast guard seized after a tense standoff with Philippine vessels in 2012.
Hours after the Philippines released the pictures, ASEAN leaders mets with Li and his aides.
The South China Sea dispute was tackled at the closed-door meeting with some of the leaders, including Duterte, who reiterated calls for the conflicts to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law, Philippine Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.
He quoted Li as saying that there was now a “positive direction” in Beijing’s relations with ASEAN and that the disputes should not affect overall relations.
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