BRP SIERRA MADRE, a marooned transport ship which Philippine Marines live in as a military outpost, sits on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. — REUTERS

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio

THE PHILIPPINES on Tuesday said China’s policy of allowing its coast guard to detain foreigners trespassing in the South China Sea violates international law.

“We have to see what will happen but obviously whatever they said… is inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo told reporters on Tuesday.

Last week, China’s coast guard published rules to enforce a 2021 law allowing authorities to fire on foreign vessels when its sovereign rights are infringed. The law also allows it to detain foreign fishermen.

The Philippines’ National Security Council (NSC) on Monday said China has no authority over the high seas, dismissing these as a “scare tactic” to intimidate and coerce Asian neighbors.

“The Philippines will not be intimidated or coerced by the Chinese Coast Guard,” NSC spokesman Jonathan E. Malaya told a news briefing. “We will never succumb to these scare tactics.”

He said countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia should continue to sail and fish in the South China Sea “to the extent that international law allows.”

Meanwhile, officials under ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte said the government did not enter into any “gentleman’s agreement” with China regarding resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines grounded a World War II-era ship in 1999 to assert its sovereignty.

But Mr. Duterte did uphold a 2013 commitment by the government of the late President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III that only food supplies would be delivered to the BRP Sierra Madre, former Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea told a House of Representatives hearing.

“The information I gathered was that there was a previous commitment that [only] food and water will be allowed to be shipped to the dilapidated vessel,” he told congressmen.

Mr. Duterte is said to have agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to keep the status quo at the disputed shoal, known to Filipinos as Ayungin, by excluding building materials from its resupply missions.

“The narration shows that there’s no ‘gentleman’s agreement,’ however we maintained the status quo,” Party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo L. Gutierrez said.

Voltaire T. Gazmin, Mr. Aquino’s Defense chief, had committed to bring food stuff to the grounded vessel, Mr. Medialdea said, though there was no commitment to bar repairs for the BRP Sierra Madre.

“The status quo at Ayungin Shoal… was in a 2013 commitment of former Defense Secretary Gazmin to the Chinese ambassador Ma Keqing that he would only deliver food and water to the marines stationed at the vessel,” he said.

Mr. Duterte did not rescind the status quo commitment by Mr. Aquino, he added.

Former Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said the Philippines had tried to repair the BRP Sierra Madre in 2021 despite an earlier commitment to only bring food supplies to it.

Chinese Coast Guard vessels started firing water cannons at Philippine resupply ships to Second Thomas Shoal in November 2021, accusing Manila of transporting building materials to the grounded ship.

The government only wanted to “repair the sleeping and living quarters” of a handful of Filipino soldiers stationed at BRP Sierra Madre. Beijing accused Manila of “strengthening the ship as a whole,” he added.

Mr. Lorenzana said Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian had complained about the resupply missions at Second Thomas Shoal during a Nov. 16, 2021 conversation between him and the Chinese diplomat on the water cannon incident. — with John Victor D. Ordoñez

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