SUPPLY MISSION. A China Coast Guard vessel with bow number 5205 directed a military-grade laser light at the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel BRP Malapascua (MRRV-4403) while supporting a rotation and resupply mission of the Philippine Navy in Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea on Feb. 6, 2023. (Photo courtesy of the PCG)
MANILA – Cagayan De Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Tuesday urged the government to forge more security pacts with other nations following China’s continued employment of harassment tactics in the West Philippine Sea.
Rodriguez said this situation has to be stopped as he urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to enter into more defense and security cooperation agreements not only with Japan but also with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and even South Korea.
“We should negotiate and enter into Visiting Forces Agreements (VFAs), like the one we have with the United States, in the face of heightened threats from China, the latest of which is the use of a military-grade laser on our Coast Guard vessel, which temporarily blinded its personnel,” he said.
Rodriguez noted that China has been doing these kind of harassments many times in the past and the government should do something more solid in defending the country’s sovereignty.
Marcos earlier announced his intention to forge a VFA with Japan during his five-day visit to Tokyo last week.
He said an agreement similar to the VFA with the US “is certainly under study.” Japan has expressed readiness to participate in joint military exercises and humanitarian missions in the Philippines.
The Philippine Coast Guard vessel on which a military-grade laser was used was assisting a Navy ship resupplying a platoon of soldiers stationed at Ayungin Shoal, which is part of Philippine territory under international law.
Beijing has claimed that the Coast Guard ship intruded into Chinese waters and urged Manila to respect its territorial sovereignty.
“How can we intrude into our own territory? How about China heeding our incessant appeals for them to respect our territorial rights and interests and stop harassing and bullying our Coast Guard and Navy personnel and our fishermen?” he asked.
Rodriguez, however, lauded the United States for denouncing the military-grade-laser incident and for reaffirming its obligations under the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty.
Meanwhile, Rep. Robert “Ace” Barbers strongly condemned China government after the recent aggression and provocation against Philippine Coast Guard personnel.
“Now that China has finally owned up to its cowardly act of bullying us in our territorial seas, we condemn in the strongest terms these acts of aggression,” Barbers said.
"We call on our allies to help us in the implementation of the arbitral ruling that gave us territorial jurisdiction over the seas now being occupied illegally and without an iota of basis neither in history nor in International Law, by China,” Barbers said.
In a statement on Tuesday (Manila time), US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said China’s “conduct was provocative and unsafe, resulting in the temporary blindness of the crew members of the BRP Malapascua and interfering with the Philippines’ lawful operations in and around Second Thomas Shoal.”
“More broadly, the PRC’s (People's Republic of China) dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, infringes upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea as guaranteed under international law, and undermines the rules-based international order,” he said.
Price, citing the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), said China has no lawful maritime claims over the Ayungin Shoal. He added that the US stands with its ally, the Philippines, in upholding the rules-based international maritime order.
The US spokesman reaffirmed that “an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Philippine Coast Guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.
As a consequence, Price called on China to abide by the PCA ruling and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in order to avoid any serious problem in the future. (PNA)
