The Philippines has decided to stand up to Beijing in the always troubled waters of the South China Sea. The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday removed a floating barrier installed a few days ago by the coast guard of the People’s Republic on the Scarborough Reef, a sandbank at the surface of the water, whose sovereignty both countries have disputed for years. The movement, which sets sparks flying in an area marked by the territorial aspirations of the Asian giant, has been carried out following the direct instructions of the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as stated this Tuesday by a Coast Guard spokesperson and reported by the agency. official news of the island nation.
The floating barrier, formed by a set of tied buoys that were deployed about 300 meters in order to prevent the passage of fishermen, according to Manila, had been detected last Friday during a routine maritime patrol by the Coast Guard and the Office of Philippine Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. This country had assured on Monday that it intended to respond with “appropriate measures.” A video released by the Philippine Coast Guard shows a diver, wearing snorkel goggles, a T-shirt, a swimsuit and fins, approach a submerged rope, and cut it with a precise twist of the wrist.
“The decisive action of the Philippine coast guard to eliminate the barrier is in accordance with international law and the sovereignty of the Philippines over the sandbar,” the spokesman for the Philippine coast guard defended on Tuesday, after carrying out the action. . The obstacle, he added, represented a danger to navigation and an obstacle to the activities of Filipino fishermen in an area, “which is an integral part of the Philippine national territory.”
Beijing responded immediately through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson. “China firmly safeguards the sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of Huangyan Island. [como llama Pekín al arrecife de Scarborough], and we advise the Philippines not to provoke or cause problems,” said Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, this Tuesday in a routine appearance. “China has indisputable sovereignty over the island and its adjacent waters, as well as sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters,” the spokesperson had noted on Monday.
The Bajo de Masinloc, as the disputed sandbank is known locally, was controlled in 2012 by China, which has since deployed a flotilla of fishing boats there. Located about 120 nautical miles (about 220 kilometers) east of the Philippine province of Zambales, and within its exclusive economic zone; Manila claims its sovereignty thanks, among other things, to a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which unanimously denied the legal basis for Beijing’s arguments to claim sovereignty over 90% of the waters of the South Sea. South China. For its part, the People’s Republic has always questioned the authority of the decision.
Covert operation
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The “special operation,” as the Philippines has called it, has had support from the Armed Forces, according to the newspaper Manila Bulletin. And it has been “very dangerous” due to the presence of several Chinese ships in the area, according to a Coast Guard spokesperson, and reported by the media. The Filipino troops, he added, were disguised as fishermen.
Although disputes over maritime and fishing rights between China and the Philippines go back a long way, they calmed down during the years of Rodrigo Duterte – closer to Beijing – at the head of the Philippine Executive. The new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, who took over in 2022, has intensified his military relationship with the United States with an eye on China. Thus, while Manila regains its importance as a piece of Washington’s puzzle for the Asia Pacific region; This year, Chinese and Filipino fishing vessels have clashed at various points.
The South China Sea, through which nearly a third of global goods pass, is one of those planetary points of friction where the strength of the People’s Republic – accompanied by the construction of artificial islands, military installations in disputed areas and of scuffles with local fishing vessels—has for years aroused the concern of its neighbors (Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, as well as the Philippines) and further tightened the rope with the United States.
Last week, the foreign ministers of the G7 – the group of the main industrialized democracies – once again reminded Beijing that its “expansive maritime claims” in the South Sea “lack a legal basis” and opposed “the militarization and other provocative activities by China in the region,” according to the official statement issued after a meeting in New York. The ministers assured that they were “seriously concerned” about the situation in these waters, but also in those of the East China Sea. And they reminded Beijing of its “responsibility” to defend “the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”
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