{"id":39725,"date":"2015-01-22T23:55:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T15:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=39725"},"modified":"2015-01-25T23:57:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T15:57:13","slug":"ph-chinas-expanded-reclamation-a-serious-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/01\/22\/ph-chinas-expanded-reclamation-a-serious-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"PH: China\u2019s expanded reclamation a serious concern"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo of China\u2019s reclamation work taken by Philippine\u2019s aerial surveillance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2013 The government accused China last Wednesday of continuing massive reclamation work and development projects in the disputed waters of the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n

The Philippines, together with its ally the US, expressed deep concern over the man-made islets which appeared to be functional for military purposes. Officials from both the Philippines and the US undertook a two-day strategic meeting which aimed to strengthen the two countries\u2019 defense and alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 50 percent complete. It\u2019s alarming in the sense that it could be used for purposes other than peaceful,\u201d Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Pio Gregorio Catapang said in a media gathering, mentioning data gathered from the military\u2019s sustained air and maritime patrols.<\/p>\n

Evan Garcia, Philippines Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, said that the reclamation activities were \u2018not a positive development to promote common interests\u2019 as there had been international calls to stop the reclamation.<\/p>\n

“We have reaffirmed our continuing concern over the destabilizing activities that are contrary to the Declaration of the Code of the Conduct in the South China Sea, as well as international law,\u201d he said in a press conference, citing China and South East states\u2019 agreement in 2002 restricting the building of new structures until a binding code of conduct is in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust look at the photographs, these are huge activities that are designed to change the status quo. It is not helpful in terms of finding a way forward and it is not an example of what anybody would understand as self-restraint\u201d he added, pointing to several aerial photographs obtained by the country\u2019s intelligence sources.<\/p>\n

When asked regarding the progress of the reclamation, Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino refused to give details but said that it has \u2018grown\u2019 and was \u2018very serious.\u2019<\/p>\n

Last October and November 2014, Philippine aerial surveillance caught photographs which showed buildings, ports and what appeared to be an airstrip that were already constructed in China\u2019s man-made islet which was also seen to have expanded five times in size.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just a matter of time before these Chinese reclaimed features will be ready for occupancy,\u201d a security official said.<\/p>\n

China claimed that the reclamation was under their jurisprudence as historical records and ancient maps pointed out that various islands, shoals and reefs in the Spratly Islands were under their ownership.<\/p>\n

Aside from China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claimed territories in the region believed to contain minerals and oil and gas deposits.<\/p>\n

With report from Cyra Moraleda<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines \u2013 The government accused China last Wednesday of continuing massive reclamation work and development projects in the disputed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":39727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ph","category-news-w","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39725","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=39725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}