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Only 48 of 60 PH diplomatic notes on WPS addressed by China: DFA
MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has issued a total of 60 diplomatic notes on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) under the Duterte administration but only 48 of them have been addressed by China.
Of the 60 notes verbales, it said 45 were issued under the tenure of Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
However, it did not identify which diplomatic communications have not been addressed.
“The DFA, under Secretary Locsin’s leadership, has been assiduously protesting every infringement on our territory and of our sovereign rights, as well as Chinese actions that amount to provocation, threat or coercion,” the DFA said in a statement on Friday.
Last year alone, it said, the government “in a more direct manner” protested China’s aiming of a fire-control radar against a Navy vessel, as well as the unlawful radio challenges against Philippine air and maritime assets patrolling Philippine waters.
Among others, it also protested the conduct of marine scientific research by Chinese vessels in Philippine waters without consent and Beijing’s “presumptuous establishment” of two “new districts” in the South China Sea.
The DFA said the Philippines was the first country to lodge a diplomatic protest against China’s new Coast Guard Law on Jan. 27, 2021.
The legislation permits the use of weapons against foreign vessels China deemed infringing upon their jurisdiction.
The department said it “strongly opposed” any application of this domestic law beyond the limits of China’s maritime entitlements under international law, including the 2016 arbitral ruling that identified as illegal Beijing’s nine-dash line.
‘Bilateral, multilateral’
Meanwhile, the DFA continues to engage Beijing through the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea (BCM) to discuss areas of concern and also explore avenues for practical cooperation.
The next BCM is scheduled in March or April this year, it said.
Multilaterally, it also raised the South China Sea issue in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and other fora.
As country coordinator for the Asean-China Dialogue, the DFA underscored that a “conducive environment is crucial” for negotiations on the code of conduct on the South China Sea (COC).
“We continue to pursue the course that right is might, which is apparent from our negotiations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea,” it said.
Joyce Ann L. Rocamora
