Month-long impasse starts taking its toll
Source: Malaya
THE month-long standoff between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal at the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) is snowballing with hints of economic retaliation and sharpening public opinion that are narrowing the space for a negotiated settlement.
Beijing is suspending some tourism to the Philippines and stiffening inspections on Philippine fruit such as bananas, of which China is the single largest buyer.
That follows Beijing’s summoning of Manila’s charge d’affairs three times, while retired and serving military officers have called for a limited military operation to shore up China’s credibility on the matter — a potentially explosive move that could trigger the 1951 US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty.
“The Chinese Foreign Ministry has made it clear China is prepared for any escalation of the situation by the Philippines. It goes without saying what this means,” the Chinese military’s official Jiefangjun Bao newspaper said in an editorial.
The Philippines has registered its own diplomatic protests, cautioning foreign governments over a perceived Chinese threat to freedom of navigation and preparing to bring the dispute to international arbitration. The Philippines is also seeking to back up its territorial claims with new warships, fighter jets and radars from the United States.
Actions on both sides are shrinking the room for political maneuverability, but they are exacerbated by perceptions that Washington is backing what Chinese see as deliberate provocations by the Philippines, said Jonathan Holslag, a research fellow at the Institute for Contemporary China Studies at the University of Brussels, in Beijing.
“China can’t give in, since that would be the same as backing down to American bullying,” Holslag said.
The two nations are among six claimants to waters and the Spratlys island groups in the West Philippine Sea, home to heavily traveled maritime lanes, rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of mineral resources.
The latest confrontation at the Scarborough Shoal began April 10 when the Philippine Navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally around Scarborough Shoal, which Manila claims as part of its exclusive economic zone, but which Beijing insists has been Chinese for centuries.
Philippine Navy authorities caught eight Chinese fishing vessels carrying endangered marine species, corals, and live sharks. A Chinese ship prevented the Navy authorities from detaining the vessels.
The shoal, which China calls Huangyan, is some 124 nautical miles from Zambales and some 500 nautical miles from China.
A civic group in the Philippines has called for protests Friday, prompting China to warn its citizens in the Philippines.
ECONOMIC PRESSURE
Beijing’s moves on tourism and fruit imports are a variation of unacknowledged economic pressure employed in past international disputes.
China International Travel Service, one of the country’s largest, said it was suspending trips from Thursday based on safety considerations. Nationwide online agency Ctrip.com has also suspended trips, an agent said, citing “anti-China sentiments in that country right now.” She said the company acted on its own without official orders.
The Shanghai Tourism Bureau had also ordered a suspension, according to staff with the Yiyou and Guojikuaixian travel agencies in the eastern financial hub.
None of the agents would give their names because of the sensitivity of the matter. Calls to China’s national tourism administration rang unanswered Thursday.
Chinese tourists make up about 9 percent of total arrivals to the Philippines, according to the Philippine Department of Tourism.
TALKS RESUMED
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario in Manila said the Philippines and China have resumed negotiations.
“We are working to diffuse the situation,” he said Wednesday night in a chance interview at the European Union Day reception in Makati City.
The last known negotiations in Manila were held April 16. Since then, China has increased its presence in the lagoon, with three surveillance ships, seven fishing boats and 23 utility boats, as against the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Edsa, a fisheries bureau vessel, and fishing boats.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Commander Algier Ricafrente said that as of yesterday, there are three Chinese ships in the area – two surveillance vessels and a fisheries and law enforcement command vessel.
On the other hand, the Philippines has two – the PCG’s search and rescue vessel 003 or BRP Pampanga, and Bureau of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resource vessel. He said the BFAR vessel is inside the shoal’s lagoon.
On May 7, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying said China is prepared to deal with an escalation of the conflict at the shoal, and accused the Philippines of heightening tensions and of provocation by sending more ships to Scarborough.
Del Rosario said while consultations with Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing will continue, the Philippines will still proceed with its plan to bring the dispute to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to legally settle the impasse, despite China’s objections.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said going to an international arbitration forum such as the ITLOS is aimed at having a “permanent and durable solution to the issue in the West Philippine Sea.”
Del Rosario also belied earlier reports that Filipino fishermen are being denied access to the Scarborough lagoon by Chinese ships in the area.
“No, that’s not true,” he said.
Ricafrente also belied the reports which came from an official of Masinloc town in Zambales.
“We want to clarify that no one is preventing (our fishermen from going to lagoon). We have Filipino fishing vessels there…The atmosphere is calm. Actually, there is no report of any harassment or untoward incident…Clearly, there is no situation where our fishermen are prevented (from fishing at the lagoon),” he said.
PROTESTS
Del Rosario, in an interview yesterday, said the anti-China protests to be staged by Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad are democratic exercises initiated by the private sector.
“They are out to exercise their right to freedom of expression. This is a private undertaking. We have nothing to do with this,” he said, noting even Chinese groups have launched similar actions against the Philippines abroad.
Del Rosario said that when he was in New York last week for an official trip, Chinese groups staged a demonstration in front of the Philippine consulate there for three days in a row.
“So it’s a way to express yourself. The Chinese have used it and our own civil society here is also using it. We’re trying to get word out there if we can and we’re sure that these demonstrations are peaceful,” he added.
The Chinese embassy in Makati has posted a notice on its website advising their citizens to take precaution and to stay off the road in view of the protest rally, where some 1,000 people are expected to join, including former President Ramos and international singer-actress Lea Salonga.
Filipinos in the United States and Canada are also expected to gather today at Chinese embassies there to demand that China stop its bullying tactics and back off from the shoal.
SANITARY ISSUES
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Chinese restriction on fruits is mainly due to sanitary concerns, and not an offshoot of the standoff.
“This is purely a technical matter, best addressed by the technical and regulatory agencies of both countries,” he said.
Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the Philippines will continue to export bananas to China and government is confident the fruits would pass the stringent tests recently imposed by Beijing.
Cristobal allayed fears the recent rejection of a shipment of bananas would escalate to a full ban, saying the Philippines has the highest quality bananas that countries with stringent requirements like Japan accept these.
“This is not a quality issue but an SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) issue. SPS is a technical issue not (about) quality because we are the biggest supplier in Japan and we know that Japan has stringent (rules),” said Cristobal.
“So as long as the SPS issues are clarified and addressed there should be no ban of Philippine exports,” he added.
Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio said the Philippines will not let up on its export promotion activities to China despite the dispute.
“The position of the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) is to continue to deal with them and entertain them,” he said.
He said the DTI is still pursuing China missions as scheduled and would continue to attend Chinese exhibition events.
“It’s not only business as usual, but we’re ramping up in China,” Panlilio said.
For investments, the Board of Investments opened a China desk to assist would-be investors from China to fast-track their ventures in the country. There are four investment and trade promotion trips set in China this year.
“We are not missing a beat. We are not downsizing our efforts,” Panlilio said.
China is now the Philippines’ top trading partner, he said. – Evangeline de Vera, Jocelyn Montemayor, Irma Isip, Victor Reyes and AP
http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/national/3281-china-in-tough-talk
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
RELATED STORY:
Fil-Ams protest China ‘bullying’ but gov’t steps back
WASHINGTON D.C. – The first step in confronting a bully is to call him out, said organizers of Friday’s (May 11) protest by concerned Filipino Americans at the Chinese Embassy even as Philippine officials made it known they were on their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment