Armed Forces of the Philippines will install radars and Airbase in the Spratly Islands, Province of the Philippines

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said , they  will install radar equipments on nine islands in the disputed Spratlys of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) to monitor intrusions even as the Coast Guard said it deployed three patrol vessels to secure a government oil survey ship reportedly harassed by two Chinese boats in the South China Sea.

“With the available resources that we have right now, all we can do is to react,” Western Command chief Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban said in an interview in Camp Aguinaldo.

“But we will be installing radars in all our controlled islands in the Philippine Waters for fast monitoring.”

On March 2, two Chinese Navy patrol vessels harassed an Energy Department survey ship, the m/v Veritas Voyager, in the Reed Bank, but left after the Navy and Air Force sent aircraft to the area.

Seismic testing for gas by an Anglo-Filipino consortium had been halted after an incident in which Manila says two Chinese boats threatened to ram a survey ship, the government said.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said the seismic tests would resume after the Philippines and China held talks to resolve the dispute. Manila would send maritime affairs experts to Beijing later this week for negotiations.

“They had to pack up and reconstitute everything,” Almendras told reporters, saying it would take a few days to restart the tests. “We have to wait, but we hope to resume.”

The Philippines has already filed a diplomatic protest with the Chinese government over the incident, but Beijing has yet to respond to it.

Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario said the Energy Department’s research vessel was well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Over the weekend, Coast Guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said two vessels with divers and medical teams on board and a surveillance vessel were sent to patrol the waters off the southwestern province of Palawan and help the government-contracted ship doing a seismic survey of the area.

Sabban suggested that the government could renovate an airstrip on Pagasa Island and turn it into an airbase so it could respond faster to such incidents.

“We have an airstrip on Pagasa Island already, and all we have to do is to make an airbase to augment our maritime patrols, especially in the vicinity of our claimed islands,” Sabban said.

“We’re the first one to build an airstrip, but we’ve already been surpassed by the kind of airstrips that Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia have put up in the Spratlys.”

US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. urged the Spartlys claimants, especially China, to act with restraint.

“We urge restraint on all sides,” he said.

“We urge that the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea issue be resolved in the negotiating table. We believe that the ASEAN (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei) states and China with the presence of the USA should sit down according to the 2002 Code of Conduct.

 

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China illegally invading the West Philippine Sea's islands and violates UNLCOS International Law

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shows the light Blue Dotted line as 200 Nautical Mile Economic Zone for the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Blue dotted line includes most part of the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly) of the Philippines. UNCLOS did not show any China’s territory in the West Philippines Sea. The Philippines recorded already 6 invasion by china to the West Philippine Sea As of June 3, 2011.

China on Tuesday (June 7, 2011) hit back at the Philippines' accusation of an "increasing presence and activities of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea" as being "unacceptable" and asked Manila to stop harming China's maritime rights and interests.

"Chinese vessels were cruising and carrying out scientific studies in waters under Philippines's jurisdiction, and their activities are violations of the UNLCOS and China is violating the International Law of Sea.

For the side of the Philippines, the West Philippine Sea’s UNLOS 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone is not under China’s jurisdiction and must have to ask a formal approval from the Philippine Government before conducting any research within the Philippine waters.  Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei words only means that they are now claiming the Philippine waters as under their jurisdiction and they violated the UNLOS 200 Nautical Mile Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

Beijing said its position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear-cut and is in accordance with the international law showing that they disobey the UNLCOS and must be punishable and must be penalize by escalating tension and illegally invading Philippine Waters. .

The Philippines said Saturday that China's move to dispatch vessels to "disputed areas" of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) "hampers the normal and legitimate fishing activities of the Filipino fishermen" and "undermines the peace and stability of the region," according to AFP.

Filipino Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin claimed on Tuesday that the US had a stake in the stability, security and freedom of the world's second-busiest sea lane.

"The US presence is a deterrence to any unlawful activity in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea)," Reuters quoted Gazmin as saying to reporters.

The US has forward bases in East Asia and its carrier battle groups have also been making regular visits to the Philippines, where it used to maintain two huge bases until 1992.

Speaking at the 10th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hungary, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Monday that any attempt to complicate the situation would be in nobody's interests. He disregarded the accusation of the Philippines considering the Philippines is just a very small country and its just nothing for them if they will invade the Philippine waters.

Yang said the situation in the South China Sea is stable which is opposite of the fact when the shot-out Filipino Fishermen in the sea of Palawan, and hiding their plan of slowly taking over the Spratlys of the Philippines Waters.

China’s interest to spratlys of the west Philippine Sea is towering even though it is not part of their territory because it is ranked to the 4^th among the largest Oil and Gas deposit in the world in line with Kuwait and UAE.

China is hesitant to make a move if the US presence is within the region because they could not bully the small countries like Vietnam and Philippines as the US will mediate them. China Said: It is wrong for countries in the region to try and use Washington's power to counter Beijing as China will not make any concessions on its sovereignty, Zhuang Guotu, director of the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at Xiamen University, told the Global Times."Only dialogue and consultation among relevant countries in the South China Sea can bring peace and stability in the region," he added.

Hong reiterated on Tuesday that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters. A clear word that regardless of the UNCLOS and the international laws, China is not scared to violate it.

Hong's remarks came in response to an anti-China demonstration in Hanoi to demand that China stay out of waters claimed by Vietnam.

He urged Vietnam to make earnest efforts to how appropriately handle maritime issues and maintain stability in the South China Sea.

 

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