China building sub base at reef

From the Manila Standard Today (Jul 30): China building sub base at reef

SUPREME Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio accused China  Wednesday  of setting up a submarine base and destroying 10 reefs in disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea to obtain filling materials for its construction.

Speaking at a forum for employees of the Department of National Defense, Carpio said that China’s ongoing reclamation, aside from invading all floating reefs and shallow islets, is establishing a sanctuary for their submarines free from detection.

“China wants the South China Sea as a sanctuary for its nuclear submarines free from the submarine-hunting Posiedon and US attack submarines,” Carpio said.

Carpio’s claim came as the Armed Forces urged China to be transparent in their military exercises after Chinese vessels conducted live fire exercises near the Paracel Island, an area that the Philippines claims.

Carpio said China’s reclamation activities and encroachment into maritime territories of other countries was part of its plan to dominate Southeast Asia’s vital sea lanes.

In setting-up the submarine base, China destroyed at least 10 reefs, aside from the total of 17 reefs they reclaimed, using them as the source of filling materials for seven other reefs that China occupies.

China has conducted massive reclamation in the West Philippine Sea, the name the country uses to refer to areas of the South China Sea that it claims.

Its activities have extended to the Panganiban Reef off Palawan and the Scarborough Shoal off Zambales.

Carpio said China has also encroached into the territories of Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and Vietnam using Beijing’s illegally delineated nine-dash line.

Carpio, one of the authors behind the arbitral case against China, said the nine-dash line covers 85.7 percent of the entire South China Sea and threatened to steal from the Philippines about 80 percent of its exclusive economiic zone, which is recognized by international law.

“China does not need to explain the nine-dash line, you just have to see what it is doing in the South China Sea,” Caprio said.

He said the country had no military capability to challenge China and cannot solely rely on its existing mutual defense treaty with the United States.

Carpio said bringing the case of China to arbitration is the only available remedy to challenge Beijing’s expansionism in the South China Sea as the series of diplomatic efforts to resolve the matter have failed.

The magistrate said the South China Sea was too vital and strategic for China, both economically and militarily.

He added that China wanted the international waters for its gas needs, being the largest importer of petroleum in the world.

Also on Wednesday, Armed Forces spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla said China should be transparent about its military exercises so that its actions would not be misconstrued.

“It’s the right of any sovereign nation to conduct any kind of exercises that they think are relevant to their own security interest,” Padilla said, but noted that the Philippines has been transparent about its own military drills by inviting international observers.

“In the case of China, everybody in the region, the United States included, is encouraging them to be transparent so that all of their motives, all of their activities will not be questioned,” said Padilla.

China’s navy carried out a live firing drill in the South China Sea  Tuesday  in a bid to improve its maritime combat ability, state media reported, as tensions flare over the disputed waters.

The exercise involved at least 100 naval vessels, dozens of aircraft, missile launch battalions of the Second Artillery Corps and information warfare troops, Xinhua news agency said, citing navy sources. 

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/07/30/china-building-sub-base-at-reef/