Chinese reclamation causing irreversible and widespread damage to West Philippine Sea

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 13): Chinese reclamation causing irreversible and widespread damage to West Philippine Sea

The Philippines on Monday said China’s massive reclamation activities in disputed features in the South China Sea are causing "irreversible and widespread" damage to the resource-rich waters' biodiversity and ecological balance.

“We cannot accept China’s claim that its activities has not caused damage to the ecological environment of the South China Sea,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said in a statement as he warned that coastal states like the Philippines face $ 100 million worth of economic losses because of the reclamation.

A United Nations Environment Program study, according to the DFA, revealed that around 300 acres of coral reef systems were damaged as a result of the reclamation activities and that nations that depend on the sea's resources is estimated to suffer losses valued at $ 100 million a year.

Jose accused China of “disregarding peoples in the surrounding states who have depended on the sea for their livelihood for generations” by pursuing said activities unilaterally.

Manila also pointed out China’s damaging fishing practices in the Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc near Zambales province.

China, Jose said, “tolerated environmentally harmful fishing practices by its nationals” at the shoal, which in effect “breaches its obligations under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).”

The Philippines, Jose said, is especially concerned by a recent Chinese Foreign Ministry statement that once their reclamation work on seven areas are completed, these would provide “comprehensive services to meet civilian demands and satisfy the need of necessary military defense.”

“Such statements by China only serve to raise the spectre of increasing militarization and threaten peace and stability in the region,” Jose said, adding Beijing seeks to distract the world from its massive and illegal expansion in the area.

China insists all its activities in the resource-rich South China Sea are within its legal and territorial jurisdiction as it dismissed protests from other claimants like the Philippines and Vietnam. Other claimants are Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Beijing maintains “indisputable” and “historical” sovereignty over nearly the entire waters through it’s so-called nine-dash line, an assertion that Manila calls “excessive” and “illegitimate.”

“We call on China to stop the reclamation activities and to be mindful of its responsibilities as a claimant state and an important member of the international community,” Jose said.

China, he said, must respect the letter and spirit of a non-binding and non-aggression pact it signed with Association of South East Asian Nations on the South China Sea in 2002.

Manila also called on China to cooperate in discussing constructive long-term solutions to the peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law.

The Philippines brought its case against China to an arbitration tribunal in 2013, but Beijing rejected Manila’s complaint, saying it has no legal basis.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=752495