PHL protests China’s conducting of illegal patrols in its territory

Chinese vessel in Ayungin Shoal (FILE PHOTO)

MANILA -– The Philippine government on Monday protested China’s conducting of illegal patrols over its territorial waters and the steady presence of its vessels in the gas-rich Recto Bank.

“We are protesting the conduct of sovereignty patrols by Chinese vessels on Recto Bank. The frequent passage of Chinese vessels in Recto Bank is not an innocent exercise of freedom of navigation but is actually done as part of a pattern of illegitimate sovereign patrol in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone pursuant to China’s unilateral effort to change the status quo in the South China Sea,” said Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

President Benigno Aquino III, in an earlier interview, revealed that at least two Chinese hydrographic vessels were spotted near Recto Bank, which is also known as Reed Bank.

Jose maintained that Recto Bank is not part of the contested territories in the South China Sea, but is within Palawan’s continental margin.

He also pointed out the vast distance of the bank from China.

“Reed Bank or Recto Bank, which is about 85 nautical miles from the nearest coast of Palawan and 595 nautical miles from the coast of Hainan forms part of the 200 nautical mile of the continental shelf of the Philippine archipelago under the UNCLOS,” Jose said, referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Moreover, he explained that Recto Bank is not an island, a rock or a low tide elevation.

“In accordance with UNCLOS, the Philippines has exclusive sovereignty rights over Recto Bank or Reed Bank. No other state is lawfully entitled to assert sovereignty or sovereign rights over said area,” he stressed.

The conduct of sovereignty patrols by China is in violation of both UNCLOS and a non-aggression pact in the South China Sea that was signed by China and Southeast Asian nations in 2001, he added.