{"id":40526,"date":"2015-02-01T14:45:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T06:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=40526"},"modified":"2015-02-01T12:25:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T04:25:22","slug":"philippines-says-aseans-credibility-at-stake-over-chinas-reclamation-of-disputed-reefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/02\/01\/philippines-says-aseans-credibility-at-stake-over-chinas-reclamation-of-disputed-reefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines says ASEAN\u2019s credibility at stake over China\u2019s reclamation of disputed reefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Johnson<\/a>
Johnson South Reef map courtesy of the Dalston Literary Review.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA,\u00a0Philippines\u2014The\u00a0Philippines\u00a0has urged fellow\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0nations to demand that China immediately stop its land reclamation in contested South China Sea reefs, warning the 10-nation bloc\u2019s credibility may be undermined if it remains silent on the issue.<\/p>\n

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told Association of\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0Nations ministers that China\u2019s massive reclamations, which all appear \u201cto be near completion as portrayed by available photos,\u201d could threaten freedom of navigation and the region\u2019s biodiversity.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s neighbours are also concerned that the reclaimed areas, which now are Chinese-controlled territories farthest from its mainland, could be used by Beijing as offshore military bases and resupply and refuelling hubs to reinforce its territorial claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cASEAN cannot remain silent on these serious developments,\u201d Del Rosario told the bloc\u2019s top diplomats in a meeting Wednesday in Malaysia\u2019s Kota Kinabalu city. \u201cTo do so, would be a grave mistake with fundamental strategic consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia have protested the land reclamations, which have transformed Johnson South Reef and other underwater coral outcrops in the Spratly archipelago into virtual islands.<\/p>\n

U.S. officials have also expressed concern over China\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

According to del Rosario, \u201cinaction on this would undermine the principle of centrality, since we are unable to address in a collective and unified manner such a critical issue in our own backyard.\u201d A copy of his speech was obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Embassy in Manila had no immediate comment, but Beijing\u2019s foreign ministry has said that the area where the reclamation is reportedly underway is part of China\u2019s territory, and that any Chinese activities there should be of no concern to the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0and other countries.<\/p>\n

Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the sprawling sea, which has some of the world\u2019s busiest commercial sea lanes.<\/p>\n

Del Rosario said the land reclamations appeared to be a part of the \u201cstep by step realization of China\u2019s illegal nine-dash line,\u201d referring to a rough demarcation of China\u2019s territory on its official maps that virtually envelopes most of the South China Sea, including areas that other\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0nations also claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith both freedom of navigation, peace and stability at risk, ASEAN as a regional force should consider reaching out to the community of nations to help us say to China that what it is doing is wrong, that it must immediately stop its reclamation activities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA,\u00a0Philippines\u2014The\u00a0Philippines\u00a0has urged fellow\u00a0Southeast Asian\u00a0nations to demand that China immediately stop its land reclamation in contested South China Sea reefs, warning …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40526","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=40526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}