Chinese 'reclamation ships' deployed to 2 other Spratly reefs - Aquino

From InterAksyon (Jun 5): Chinese 'reclamation ships' deployed to 2 other Spratly reefs - Aquino

China has also sent ships "that can be used for reclamation projects" to two other disputed territories in the Spratly Islands, which Manila calls the Kalayaan Island Group, President Benigno Aquino III said Thursday.

"Based on the latest report that we have received, we are again bothered that there seems to be developments in other areas within the disputed seas.

Amongst them, there appears to be movement of ships -- although we are not saying that they are exactly the same ships that were used in Mabini (Reef) -- but there seems to be similar ships at the very least in Gavin Reef and in Cuateron Reef (Calderon Reef)," Aquino said at a briefing aired over state-run Radyo ng Bayan on Thursday.

"The pictures I saw were just ships that can be used for reclamation. But what we have are only pictures at this point, unlike in the case of Mabini Reef where there was a geographical feature," Aquino added.

The Philippines earlier lodged a diplomatic protest against China for its reclamation work in Mabini Reef.

Aquino said the government is considering elevating the reclamation in Mabini Reef before the United Nations.

The Philippines already has a pending arbitration case before the UN tribunal over Chinese incursions into Ayungin Shoal.

The case seeks to declare China's nine-dash line policy claiming almost the entire South China Sea illegal.

The tribunal has given China 60 days to submit its reply to the Philippines’ case but Beijing said it would not comply.

"The arbitral track is one of the solutions because both of us and others have said let us conform to international law. So that is embodied in the UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Seas) as a method to settle the dispute," Aquino said.

Aquino said even if China does not participate, at the minimum, a favorable ruling would prove the Philippine position is correct.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/88417/chinese-reclamation-ships-deployed-to-2-other-spratly-reefs---aquino