CEBU CITY – Joint fishing activities between Filipino and Chinese fishermen are allowed within the 12 nautical mile territorial sea around the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea even without agreement between the two countries, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said.
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| Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Panatag Shoal, Huangyan Island, and Democracy Reef, are two rocks in a shoal located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon in the West Philippine Sea. (Mindanao Examiner via Google Earth) |
Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Panatag Shoal, Huangyan Island, and Democracy Reef, are two rocks in a shoal located between the Macclesfield Bank and Luzon in the West Philippine Sea.
Speaking to journalists at the sideline of the 500th anniversary or quincentennial of the Victory at Mactan in Cebu province, Roque has invoked a provision of the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to support his assertion on traditional fishing rights between contesting countries.
“The Tribunal notes that the traditional fishing rights may exist even within the territorial waters of another State 381 and considers that its jurisdiction to address this dispute is not dependent on a prior determination of sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal,” Roque said, quoting Paragraph 407 of the arbitral ruling.
In explaining the provision, Roque said traditional fishing ground can be done in the 12 nautical mile territorial sea around Scarborough Shoal among fishermen from the Philippines, China, and even Vietnam, not by virtue of an agreement, but because of the decision of the international arbitral court in which the Filipinos are relying on.
He said a portion of the arbitration award must be respected, even if it is not favorable to the country. “Pinanindigan po ng Presidente natin, President Duterte itong panalo natin kasama po yung desisyon na meron talagang traditional fishing na puwedeng mangyari sa parte ng mga Pilipino, Vietnamese, at Tsino dyan po sa Scarborough Shoal,” he said.
Filipino lawmakers and the Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin in March protested the presence of over 220 Chinese fishing vessels, believed manned by militias, spotted by the Philippine Coast Guard near Julian Felipe Reef. Also called Whitsun, the boomerang-shaped reef lies about 175 nautical miles west of the Palawan province and inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
China has claimed the Julian Felipe Reef as their territory. But, in a diplomatic protest, Locsin complained that “their swarming and threatening presence creates an atmosphere of instability,” and infringes the nation’s sovereignty, the Reuters news agency reported.
The ships’ presence is a “clear provocative action of militarizing the area” and China should recall them, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, according to Reuters.
The U.S. State Department said is standing by the Philippines in its latest run-in with China over disputed sea territory. In his tweet, State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “The U.S. stands with our ally, the Philippines, regarding concerns about the gathering of (Chinese) maritime militia vessels near Whitsun Reef. We call on Beijing to stop using its maritime militia to intimidate and provoke others, which undermines peace and security.”
Chinese fishing vessels frequently assist the coast guard and navy in asserting China’s maritime claims, according to The Associated Press.
The U.S. does not recognize China’s claims and conducts frequent freedom-of-navigation patrols in the disputed waters. China’s claim to most of the South China Sea was rejected by an international tribunal in 2016; however, Beijing has ignored the ruling and built military facilities on seven of the disputed Spratly sites, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. (John Rey Saavedra, Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes. With additional reporting from Mindanao Examiner and Rappler.)
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