EDITORIAL - Sandbar grabber

A year after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague defined the Philippines’ maritime economic entitlements and sovereign rights and invalidated Beijing’s greedy claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, the Philippine military came up with a plan to set up a detachment on the largest of the Sandy Cays just off the Pag-asa island group in Palawan.

But the plan was shot down by the Duterte administration, according to Rear Adm. Rommel Jude Ong, who retired in 2019 as vice chief of the Philippine Navy and who once headed the Palawan-based naval forces with jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea.

Last week Beijing informally announced to the world what would constitute an active effort to seize the sandbars, of which one is just about two nautical miles away from Pag-asa. Chinese state-run media ran a story that the China Coast Guard had taken control of Sandy Cay, with the story backed by a photo of CCG forces displaying a Chinese flag as a “vow of sovereignty.”

Chinese state media reported that the CCG landed on Sandy Cay on April 26 to “exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction” over the sandbar, carry out an “inspection” and “collect video evidence regarding the illegal activities of the Philippine side.” The black-clad Chinese also reportedly “cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris and garbage on the reef.”

Manila refuted the story by presenting images showing Philippine Navy and Coast Guard forces displaying the Philippine flag on the disputed sandbars on April 27.

Philippine marine scientists have expressed concern that for over a decade now, China has been building up Sandy Cay with dead corals to turn the sandbars into high tide features that can be entitled to a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, which would include the disputed Subi Reef. Beijing has denied this accusation.

Because of the timing of the Chinese media reports, there are speculations that the CCG move was mainly a reaction to the ongoing Balikatan exercises between Philippine and US forces, with several countries participating as observers.

Obviously, the Chinese weren’t on Sandy Cay merely to take selfies. The flag-flashing would almost seem silly if we didn’t know how serious China takes its reef grabbing, and how quickly it can turn a maritime feature that disappears at high tide into a military forward base within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines must ensure that this does not happen in Sandy Cay. The country cannot afford to let down its guard.