Feature: China’s allowing access of fishermen in Bajo De Masinloc: a publicity stunt?

From the Philippine Information Agency (Jun 6): Feature: China’s allowing access of fishermen in Bajo De Masinloc: a publicity stunt?

Newspapers recently welcomed reports that China has allowed access of Filipino fishermen in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc.

This was seen as a positive gesture by Beijing and a reflection of its goodwill towards the incoming political leadership.

However good this news sounds, a reckoning of realities on the ground is in order before we embrace such a development - if true - as a game-changer.

The truth is China has not significantly changed its policy on the South China Sea and it is foolhardy to believe that it will shift its gears soon.

One only needs to look at how China - against calls from the region and outside for self-restraint and respect for international law – has dramatically altered the situation on the ground even as it spoke of its commitment to honor the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and work on a Code of Conduct.

Early this year, China’s expansionist agenda for the South China Sea has become clear when it embarked on the militarization of the disputed features, while maintaining the narrative that facilities were intended to provide “public goods” that will benefit the region.  The artificial islands were built since 2014 – an “ecocide” carried out at the expense of the intricate and diverse coral reefs of the Spratlys, a precious ecosystem which have henceforth become lost forever.

Seen against this big picture, the reported “goodwill gesture” of China in Bajo de Masinloc appears as a publicity stunt, to present itself as the good guy, with the hope that the new administration will reverse Philippine policy on the West Philippine Sea and be “friendly to China” in contrast to the Aquino administration.

The fact is China remains in control of the shoal, which it forcibly took over in 2012, after preventing Philippine authorities from enforcing national laws within its Exclusive Economic Zone.  The shoal is part of Zambales Province and located about 900 kilometers from China’s southernmost island of Hainan.

China’s forcible takeover of this shoal on account of a flimsy claim of “historic rights” over the entire South China Sea violated international law. It has deprived the fishing communities of Zambales and neighboring provinces their legitimate rights in their traditional fishing grounds. It was the last straw in a series of China’s aggressive actions on the ground vis-à-vis the Philippines that prompted the arbitration proceedings.

Taken against this context, the reports about China’s act of allowing Filipino fishermen to fish in Bajo De Masinloc beg the question: does China have the right to be giving Filipinos what belongs to the Filipinos?  

On 16 May 2016, China announced a unilateral fishing ban in the South China Sea in areas north of 12 degrees latitude, which, if China follows its spurious nine-dash line claim, covers Bajo De Masinloc.  This ban is in force until 16 August 2016, a concrete proof of China’s blatant disregard of the rights of its neighbors, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Moreover, let not Panganiban Shoal be forgotten. In 1995, China occupied this feature within the Kalayaan Island Group. At that time, Beijing said it was building “fishermen’s facilities” that will be open “when the time is right” to use by fishermen other than the Chinese fishermen. Panganiban Shoal has since been transformed into a Chinese military outpost; so much for the promise of joint use and access at the time that never came.

These, and China’s continuing and progressive actions beyond Bajo De Masinloc in the South China Sea, should make us circumspect in assessing the intention of certain one-off gestures of China, especially as we await the ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal that should clarify what is rightfully ours.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2131465177257/feature-china-s-allowing-access-of-fishermen-in-bajo-de-masinloc-a-publicity-stunt-