February 18 ------ Representatives from the Philippines and China quarreled over the South China Sea during a roundtable discussion at the 61st Munich Security Conference. Speaking at the “Making Waves: Maritime Tensions in the Indo-Pacific” roundtable, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo asserted the Philippines remains steadfast in defending the rules-based international order and the rule of law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
"The basic issue here is that we are following international law. Whenever the Philippines undertakes any kind of activity within our exclusive economic zone, as defined by UNCLOS, we feel we are within our rights. But when another country, let's say, applies its own domestic laws to certain areas within our [exclusive economic zone], then it really does create the kind of tension that we have been experiencing, especially over the last two years,” Manalo said during the roundtable. He said countries who have signed agreements such as UNCLOS should abide by these agreements. “If this is not the case, then the rich, the powerful, who will actually be in a position to assert their own laws against the weaker countries, I believe then we're in for a period of even greater tension,” he noted.
However, former Chinese vice-foreign minister Fu Ying said China cannot agree for the Philippines to occupy Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal and Sabina (Escoda) Shoal “because that is a violation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.” “Everybody signed to it. I remember that language, not to make more moves, that language was watered down with the Filipino request in order for the Philippines to also sign up,” she said. “So we all agreed, if the Philippines can take new rocks, how can you stop others? How can you stop China from taking more? We are capable, there is no problem. But we are exercising constraints because we are committed to this DOC. So that's a red line no one should be allowed to cross.”
For his part, Singapore Minister for Defense Ng Eng Hen noted that Chinese Coast Guard patrols have gone up to “about 2,000 ships a day, about a 20 per cent increase from last year to the previous.” This is apart from the 200 Chinese militia vessels around disputed features, which is a 35 per cent increase from 2022, he said. He noted that in 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping said matters in Asia “ultimately must be resolved by Asians, and Asia's security ultimately must be protected by Asians”, which is a Monroe Doctrine. Chinese vessels have engaged in a series of high-profile confrontations with Philippine ships in disputed waters of the South China Sea claimed by Beijing despite an international ruling that their assertion has no legal basis.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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