IN RECENT days, China and the Philippines have put on view, in what observers described as competing photo opportunities, their respective flags on a disputed sandbank in the South China Sea.
The sandbank, called Sandy Cay, near Thitu (Pagasa island) which is part of the Spratly islands, is well within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone as it is only 120 nautical miles from the Philippines’ western shoreline.
China’s chutzpah in staking the five-star red flag, even if only temporarily after the Chinese were reported to have left the sandbank later, was a gear to building up once more tensions between Beijing and Manila.
Beijing’s act came as the Philippines and the United States, treaty allies under the Mutual Defense Pact signed on Aug. 30, 1951, were conducting in the West Philippine Sea their 18-day joint military drills they call “Balikatan” or”shoulder to shoulder” which in 2025 will include an integrated air and missile defense simulation for the first time.
We note the White House described the reports of China “seizing” Sandy Cay as “deeply concerning if true,” with US National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt saying “Actions like these threaten regional stability and violate international law…we are consulting closely with our own partners and remain committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Beijing, ignoring an international arbitral ruling in 2016, continues its hard-boiled claims of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, waving away competing assertions from other regional countries.
On July 12, 2016, an arbitral tribunal organized under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded China had not exercised exclusive and continuous control over the area and that certain maritime features lie within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
The tribunal found that China’s claims based on its fairy-tale nine-dash line, including its claims to historic rights in the South China Sea, were not legally valid.
The tribunal determined the line exceeded the geographic limits imposed by UNCLOS and that China’s claims were inconsistent with the Convention.
We are as pleased as punch the Philippines quickly asserted its sovereignty over Pag-asa Cays 1, 2, 3 and its surrounding waters through an “inter-agency maritime operation” on Sunday.
The National Task Force West Philippine Sea said in a statement: “This coordinated effort involved the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, and Philippine National Police-Maritime Group, reinforcing Philippine authorities’ routine and lawful exercise of maritime domain awareness and jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea.”
