A Chinese coastguard vessel is seen from inside a Philippine re-supply ship in this March 29, 2014 file photo. China tried to block the Philippines from re-supplying a contingent of Marines inside the BRP Sierra Madre, the old hospital ship that run aground on Ayungin Shoal, and which Beijing wants removed.
The Philippines has issued another "shoutout" to the global community for help in reining in Beijing's massive massive reclamation activities in the South China Sea.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Evan P. Garcia asked the international community to press for a cessation of “such unbridled reclamation activity" that he said only "worsens an already sensitive geopolitical situation and raises the specter of increasing militarization.”
Garcia made the call at the 17th ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held in New Delhi on Saturday. Concerns regarding recent developments in the South China Sea were discussed at the meeting.
Indian Minister of External Affairs Anil Wadha thanked the Philippines for providing India with updates on developments in the South China Sea.
Noting that an important dimension of the ASEAN-India strategic partnership is its increasing relevance to the political security of the region, Minister Wadha assured the Philippines that India will encourage the peaceful resolution of the dispute.
The 17th ASEAN-India SOM undertook a comprehensive review of the entire gamut of ASEAN-India relations and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, according to a statement from the DFA. The importance of improving connectivity, of expanding economic and commercial ties, of deepening cultural bonds and of Indian engagement in ASEAN efforts to build regional political and security architecture was emphasized.
The Philippines welcomed New Delhi’s new “Act East” policy as an expression of India’s enduring commitment to closer cooperation with ASEAN.
The overall theme of the meeting, which was co-chaired by Minister Wadha and Brunei Permanent Secretary Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof and attended by all ASEAN Member States, was "ASEAN-India: Progress and Prosperity”
Losing territory fast
Manila's call to its neighbors for help in restraining China's reclamation spree came just as lawmakers warned that the Philippines may have already lost 60 hectares of territory in the West Philippine Sea.
Once these reclamation activities are completed, the status quo would have been changed in the disputed regional waters - from ordinary reefs and shoals to "habitable islands" hosting structures for military and other personnel as well as support for naval and aircraft operations, party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo of Magdalo, was quoted by the Philippines Daily Inquirer sa saying.
The most troubling of the reclamation projects, said one of PDI's sources, was that in Mischief Reef, because it is only 41 kms. from Ayungin Shoal, where the Philippines had earlier let an old hospital ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, run aground as a barrier.
Acedillo warned that unless the reclamation spree is stopped, the Philippines in a few years would be forced to evacuate its residents from some of the islands in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which is now considered a municipality of Palawan.
Next could be Scarborough Shoal, which is very near the Luzon mainland off Masinloc, Zambales. Also called Panatag Shoal it was the site of a naval standoff between Beijing and Manila in April 2012. Since then, Chinese ships now regularly patrol the area, occasionally shooing away Filipino fishermen who have always relied on these rich fishing grounds.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/106989/ph-calls-on-international-community-to-pressure-china-to-halt-reclamation-in-south-china-sea
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