DFA lodges two new protests vs China over 160 Chinese vessels spotted in PHL waters

(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs has lodged two new diplomatic protests against China.

In a statement released on Friday, April 23, the DFA said the new protests were due to the “continued unauthorized presence and activities” of 160 Chinese fishing vessels, Chinese maritime militia vessels and other vessels in Philippine waters.

The department said the vessels were observed “within the territorial sea of high tide features in the Kalayaan Island Group, in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and in and around the territorial waters of Bajo de Masinloc.”

According to the department, five Chinese Coast Guard vessels were also seen deployed within the vicinities of the Pag-asa Islands, Bajo de Masinloc and Ayungin Shoal.

“Through these protests, the DFA reminded China that Bajo de Masinloc, Pag-asa Islands, Panata, Parola, Kota Islands, Chigua and Burgos Reefs are integral parts of the Philippines over which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction. The Philippines exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction over Julian Felipe Reef and Ayungin Shoal,” the department said.

It said the new diplomatic protests were in addition to the daily protests being filed by the DFA against the continuing presence of Chinese vessels in Julian Felipe Reef.

“The continued swarming and threatening presence of the Chinese vessels creates an atmosphere of instability and is a blatant disregard of the commitments by China to promote peace and stability in the region,” the department said.

The DFA has maintained China should  “adhere to international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the final and binding Arbitral Award of the 12 July 2016 South China Sea Arbitration.”

In the 2016 ruling, the Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidated China’s nine-dash line, which it uses as a basis to claim almost the entire South China Sea.

China, however, has rejected the ruling.

The DFA also reminded China of its commitments under the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, “in particular the exercise of self-restraint pursuant to Paragraph 5 thereof, in order to maintain an atmosphere conducive to the ongoing negotiations for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea,” the department said.