Lawmaker urges DFA, DND to come up with clear course of action to stop China’s strident assertions in West PHL Sea

From the Philippine News Agency (May 12): Lawmaker urges DFA, DND to come up with clear course of action to stop China’s strident assertions in West PHL Sea

A ranking member of the Nationalist Peoples Coalition (NPC) at the House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of National Defense (DND) to come up with a clear plan of action to stop the unabated strident assertions and massive reclamation activities of China in the West Philippine Sea.

Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian said the government must have concrete courses of action to suppress China’s threatening reclamation activities in order to prevent the possible irreversible and widespread economic damage it might cause to future generations.

“Several violations against the rights and sovereignty of the Philippines have been escalating, such as the prevention of Philippine vessels and fisher folks from gathering resources in the contested water, which are well within our exclusive economic zone,” the majority member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said.

“China shows a wanton disregard of our rights and a blatant disrespect of our country. Their notion of being a super power is now being expressed through coercion and creeping invasion of its neighbors' territories," Gatchalian said.

Recent aerial and satellite images have confirmed reports of large-scale construction of permanent structures on the contested areas, including banks, reefs and low tide elevations which do not even qualify as islands, as well as small inhabitable coral projections, which are considered “rocks” under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS).

Defense officials have also confirmed that China is building a wall at Mischief Reef, which is located inside the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

According to DND, the “China wall” will cause nonstop fishing by the Chinese from the People’s Republic of China and would also enable the Chinese Navy and Coast Guard to check all vessels passing through the area.

Starting last year, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has recorded at least six maritime aggression from Chinese vessels in which Filipino fishermen where driven away from Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal).

Because of this, Gatchalian has filed House Resolution No. 2059has filed House Resolution No. 2059 which directs both House Committees on Foreign Affairs and National Defense to conduct a joint inquiry on the steps being taken by the government in the standoff against China in the contested Kalayaan group of islets known internationally as Spratlys.

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