97 diplomatic protests filed vs China under Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines, under the administration of President Marcos, has filed a total of 97 diplomatic protests over China’s presence and activities in the West Philippine Sea, including 30 lodged this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Since the Marcos administration began, the Philippines has filed 67 notes verbale in 2022 and 30 diplomatic notes in 2023.

DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said 260 protests were filed from 2016 to 2021. A total of 202 notes verbale (NV) were lodged in 2021, and 195 in 2022.

Daza said the “30 NVs refer to protests against the illegal presence and actions of Chinese vessels in our waters.”

China claims most of the South China Sea and continues to refuse to honor the arbitral tribunal decision that invalidated its claims to ill-defined historic rights throughout the nine-dash line.

With a troubling increase in coercion and dangerous operation behavior in the South China Sea, the United States underscored it is deeply committed to alliance obligations with the Philippines.

The Philippines has ramped up its military ties with the US this year and allowed greater US access to local military bases that angered China.

China condemned the new sites, saying they threaten the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific and are aimed directly at Beijing.

During a  security conference in Munich, Germany in February, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the Philippines faces daily incidents of harassment and land reclamation in the West Philippine Sea, which in many cases have been depriving the Philippines of the use of its exclusive economic zone.

Meanwhile in Camp Aguinaldo, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro met with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian yesterday, days after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) revealed how it again recently experienced harassment by China Coast Guard (CCG) ships during a support mission to Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The meeting however apparently failed to discuss the incident as the talks supposedly focused on improving defense cooperation mechanisms and defense relations between the two countries.

Department of National Defense (DND) spokesman Arsenio Andolong said Teodoro received Huang in a courtesy call where he “lauded China for its vision of a powerful nation, which he likened to the capability upgrade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).”

Teodoro underscored that a strong AFP will serve as the “bedrock” for regional stability and resiliency in the force of external threats.

Without mentioning the latest WPS incident where Chinese ships allegedly blocked, shadowed and harassed PCG vessels, Teodoro “emphasized that the Philippines’ defense capability building efforts will always be in line with national interests.”

Andolong said the Philippines has been a recipient of China’s military aid gratis since 2006 and equipment handed over to the DND contributed to the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and counterterrorism efforts of the defense establishment.

He recalled that former defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana received the first batch of military equipment as part of the 2019 military aid gratis agreement from China in 2022.

Andolong said that during the meeting, both officials highlighted the enhancement of defense relations between the Philippines and China through the implementation of existing bilateral mechanisms and dialogue platforms, such as the Philippines-China Annual Defense and Security Talks, which China is set to host.

He said Teodoro emphasized the need to sustainably develop institutions through a bottom-up approach and follow through in effectively implementing existing mechanisms.

The PCG reported Wednesday that BRP Malabrigo and BRP Malapascua were assisting the naval operation of the AFP late last month when two CCG vessels “came close” to their patrol boats.

During the operation, the PCG was constantly followed, harassed and obstructed by the significantly larger Chinese vessels at a distance of approximately 100 yards.

“These Chinese Coast Guard vessels blatantly disregard the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea in their attempts to obstruct passage and discourage the PCG vessels from approaching Ayungin Shoal,” the PCG said.

Despite reports of continuing incursions and harassment, a PCG official yesterday said that they have noticed a change in the behavior of CCG ships – with its aggression limited only in Ayungin Shoal, also referred to as Second Thomas Shoal.

In an interview over ANC’s “Headstart,” PCG-WPS spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said that unlike before when the CCG ships’ aggression can be seen “all over the WPS,” nowadays they could not generalize the Chinese behavior in the entire West Philippine Sea.

Tarriela explained that the CCG used to position itself at a “very close distance” alongside the PCG.  But lately, in parts of the WPS except for Ayungin Shoal, they have noticed that when a Chinese ship would shadow a Philippine vessel, it would merely tail the PCG vessel.

He believed that exposing the bullying tactics of the CCG may have paid off.

Ties with Poland, Australia

The Philippine government, through the DND, is working on further strengthening the country’s defense relations with Poland.

Teodoro met last week with Charge d’affaires Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz of Poland.

Reaffirming the strong bilateral defense cooperation between the Philippines and Poland, he expressed his appreciation to the Polish government for the S-70i Black Hawk helicopter project, which was intended to boost the capability of the Philippine Air Force.

In another development, the Philippines and Australia are committed to a deeper and more integrated bilateral cooperation and coordination in maritime affairs, the DFA said yesterday.

DFA Office of Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office Assistant Secretary Maria Angela Ponce and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade US and Indo-Pacific Strategy Division First Assistant Secretary Peter Sawczak led their respective delegations during the 3rd Philippines-Australia Maritime Dialogue on Wednesday in Manila.

Discussions during the dialogue hosted by the Philippines focused on regional maritime threats and challenges, maritime safety and security cooperation, and marine environmental protection, with key Philippine maritime and security agencies participating in the Maritime Dialogue, across the table from their Australian counterparts. – Michael Punongbayan, Evelyn Macairan