From The Standard (Sep 17):
Palace stays course on Spratlys
THE Palace
reiterated on Wednesday that the government will abide by its policy of
arbitration and diplomacy in dealing with issues involving the South China Sea
even as a United States
think-tank said Beijing
may be building its third airstrip on artificial islands in disputed waters.
“The situation
there primarily deals with, again, our approach to the situation in the West Philippine Sea, that is to go through the
arbitration track, and to go through the diplomatic track,” Presidential
Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.
“Because that will
resolve a number of issues besetting us in the West
Philippine Sea, and so that’s the best track that we will continue
to use—the arbitration track and also the diplomatic track,” he added.
Lacierda made the
remark after the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International
Studies claimed on Sept. 8 that China
is building another air strip on Mischief Reef, one of several artificial
islands China
has created in the Spratly archipelago.
“Clearly, what we
have seen is going to be a 3,000-meter airstrip and we have seen some more work
on what is clearly going to be some port facilities for ships,” he said.
China claims almost the whole of the sea and
over the past year has asserted its stance with rapid conversion of tiny reefs
into islands for facilities with military uses.
Taiwan, Vietnam,
the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims to the
waters, which incorporate strategically crucial shipping lanes and could harbor
oil and gas deposits.
The Pentagon has
warned that Beijing’s
activities are changing the regional status quo, and has weighed sending
warships and surveillance aircraft within 12 nautical miles—the normal
territorial zone around natural land—of the new artificial islands.
Work began last
year on a 3,000-meter (9,842 feet) runway on Fiery Cross reef in the Spratly
islands, around 1,000 kilometers from China’s
island province
of Hainan.
It is now “well
advanced” and has reached the painting stage, said the Washington-based Center
for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday.
Satellite photos
of another reef, Subi, where nearly four million square meters (988 acers) of
land have been reclaimed, show grading work and possible runway construction is
being carried out, it said.
And satellite
photos taken last week show that a retaining wall has been built on Mischief
Reef, creating a 3,000-meter rectangular area, and a cement plant set up, CSIS
said, “suggesting another runway could be in the works”. With AFP
The images appear
to contradict a claim by China
in August that its reclamation activities had stopped.
Mischief Reef is
only 21 nautical miles from Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines – whose
defense budget is a fraction of China’s – deliberately grounded a landing ship
in 1999 to serve as a makeshift base for a contingent of marines.
“A third airstrip
on Mischief Reef... would complete the triangle, significantly boosting China’s
air patrol and interdiction capabilities over the contested waters and features
of the Spratlys,” wrote Gregory Poling of CSIS’ Asia Maritime Transparency
Initiative.
It would heighten
tensions and present “greater operational headaches for all the claimants as
well as outside players like the United States”, he added.
Airstrip building
in the Spratlys goes back nearly 40 years and four other claimants already have
such facilities, although China’s
are much longer and could be used by any of the People’s Liberation Army’s
aircraft, analysts say.
China says its reclamations and facilities are
intended for civilian as well as military purposes.
The latest
satellite pictures -- showing continuing dredging and channel widening -- were
taken after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at an Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur last month
that land reclamation works were over.
“China has
already stopped. You look, who is building? Take a plane and look for
yourself,” Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
Bonnie Glaser of
AMTI said the works “underscore Beijing’s
unwillingness to exercise self-restraint and look for diplomatic paths to reduce
tensions with its neighbours, the United States, and other nations”.
Chinese President
Xi Jinping will make his first state visit to the US
next week and she added: “Beijing appears to be
sending a message to President Barack Obama that China
is determined to advance its interests in the South China Sea even if doing so
results in heightened tensions with the United States.”
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/09/17/palace-stays-course-on-spratlys/
