{"id":10455,"date":"2014-05-15T22:39:32","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T14:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=10455"},"modified":"2014-05-15T22:39:32","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T14:39:32","slug":"philippines-releases-photos-that-it-says-show-chinese-reclamation-on-disputed-reef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/05\/15\/philippines-releases-photos-that-it-says-show-chinese-reclamation-on-disputed-reef\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines releases photos that it says show Chinese reclamation on disputed reef"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo from Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA,\u00a0Philippines\u2014The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0government on Thursday released military surveillance photos of Chinese land reclamation on a reef claimed by Manila in the South China Sea that it said showed Beijing violated a regional agreement not to escalate territorial disputes.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Charles Jose said the pictures show Chinese aggressiveness in asserting its claims over the entire South China Sea.<\/p>\n

The aerial photographs were accompanied by a caption stating that they were obtained from \u201cPhilippine\u00a0intelligence sources.\u201d The caption said the \u201cextensive reclamation\u201d by China on the Johnson South Reef, called Mabini by Manila and Chigua by Beijing, was \u201cdestabilizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chinese Embassy in Manila had no immediate comment, but a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing has said that the area is part of China\u2019s territory, and that any Chinese activities at the reef should be of no concern to Manila.<\/p>\n

Jose noted that a 2002 nonbinding agreement between China and the 10-member Association of\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0Nations calls for restraint in conducting activities in the region that would \u201ccomplicate or escalate disputes\u201d and to not inhabit uninhabited areas<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to show people that (China\u2019s) actions are part of its aggressive behaviour to assert its claim in violation of the DOC,\u201d or Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which was signed by China,Philippines\u00a0and nine other ASEAN members, Jose said.<\/p>\n

Philippine\u00a0President Benigno Aquino III said a stronger accord and international arbitration would offer more lasting solutions to the territorial conflicts. A proposed legally binding \u201ccode of conduct\u201d between China andSoutheast Asian\u00a0countries is seen as a mechanism to prevent a major armed conflict in the disputed waters. Manila sought international arbitration against Beijing in January 2013 after Chinese government ships took control of a shoal claimed by the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0off its main island of Luzon.<\/p>\n

Philippine\u00a0Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday that it was not clear what China would build on the reclaimed land, but that an airstrip was a possibility.<\/p>\n

A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the issue, said it could also be used as a military base and a resupply and refuelling hub. The official said the reclamation was first detected by air force planes six months ago.<\/p>\n

Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the\u00a0Philippine\u00a0military has been monitoring Chinese activities at the reef for several months. \u201cFor whatever purpose (the reclamation was done) we still do not know, but we are almost sure that there will be a base,\u201d he told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n

An airstrip or a military base on the reef would boost the mobility of Beijing\u2019s naval and air forces in the South China Sea region, far from the Chinese mainland.<\/p>\n

The pictures showed \u201cbefore-and-after\u201d images\u2014from an untouched reef in 2012, followed by another showing a concrete building jutting out of the water, and the reclaimed land two years later.\u00a0Philippine\u00a0aircraft helping search for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane in March reported reclamation work was continuing, Jose said.<\/p>\n

Del Rosario said Manila lodged a protest against China last month, but that Beijing has ignored it.<\/p>\n

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing on Wednesday that the reef was part of China\u2019s territory and any construction there is covered by its \u201csovereignty rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0government estimates that the Chinese have reclaimed a land mass of at least 30 hectares (74 acres) from the reef, which Manila says is part of its western Palawan province. What has emerged from the coral outcrop appears like a vast tree-less island of white sand in the middle of turquoise blue waters.<\/p>\n

One of the released pictures shows a long pipe connected to a large dredging vessel on the northwestern edge of the reef. A concrete building, likely to be China\u2019s outpost on the reef, stands on the southern edge of the emerging islet. A ship is anchored close by.<\/p>\n

The reef, part of the Spratly Islands chain, is also claimed by Vietnam, which fought a deadly naval battle against China in the area in 1988.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez in Manila and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA,\u00a0Philippines\u2014The\u00a0Philippine\u00a0government on Thursday released military surveillance photos of Chinese land reclamation on a reef claimed by Manila in the South …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","mauthors-oliver-teves","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}