MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines “strongly” protested China’s establishment of two new districts in the disputed South China Sea and the illegal designation of Kagitingan Reef within the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) as administrative center of “Nansha” district.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines also objects and does not recognize the Chinese names given to some features in the KIG.
“The Philippine government strongly protests the establishment of the so-called districts of ‘Nansha’ and ‘Xisha’ under the supposed administrative jurisdiction of its self-declared ‘Sansha City’ announced on April 18, 2020, by the People’s Republic of China,” the DFA said in a statement.
“It does not recognize Sansha, nor its constituent units, nor any subsequent acts emanating from them,” the DFA said.
The Philippine government, the DFA said, has protested since 2012 China’s unlawful establishment of Sansha City and the extent of its administrative jurisdiction, which encompasses Philippine territory and maritime zones in the West Philippine Sea.
“The establishment and supposed extent of jurisdiction of ‘Sansha City,’ of which the new two districts are part, violate Philippine territorial sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc, and infringes on Philippine sovereign rights over the waters and continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea,” the DFA said.