WPS charade aims to veer attention from China's 'creeping invasion'

From the Philippine News Agency (May 6, 2024): WPS charade aims to veer attention from China's 'creeping invasion' (By Jose Cielito Reganit)

Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Photo courtesy of the House Press and Public Affairs Bureau)

MANILA – Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers on Monday denounced the continuing lies, false narratives and propaganda from the Chinese government on West Philippine Sea (WPS) issues.

Barbers issued the statement after Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro debunked the latest “charade” made by a Chinese Embassy official that there exists a “new model” or gentlemen’s agreement meant as “confidence-building measures to avoid conflict in the WPS.”

“The claim made by a Chinese Embassy official, I believe, is an outright and calculated lie, and forms part of their propaganda intended or designed to veer away and/or deviate the Filipinos’ attention on their creeping invasion and maybe other evil designs in the Philippines,” Barbers said.

“China is banking on those fabricated or non-existent verbal agreements to justify their incursions inside the Philippine territory in the WPS. China has been lying and Filipinos should always adopt extreme caution on whatever they say and do on the WPS issue,” he added.

The chairperson of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs noted that “a great majority of Filipinos” were aware of the influx of Chinese nationals in the Philippines engaged in spying activities while working undercover as Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) workers; money laundering and shabu shipments; and other criminal activities.

There is also the issue on the growing number of Chinese students, soldier-age retirees, and overstaying tourists supported and heavily funded by their benefactors from China, he said.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila on Saturday claimed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command (Wescom) made repeated confirmations that the "new model" for the handling of raising tensions in the WPS have been approved by key Philippine government officials, including Teodoro and National Security Adviser Eduardo Año.

China also claimed that it has records of "communication and negotiation" on this matter and that it has nothing to do with the sovereign positions of the two countries.

"I would like to clearly state that any insinuation that the Department of National Defense is a party to any new model is a devious machination of China through their Embassy in Manila, and it is curious that it comes right after their actions were condemned in the recent Squad meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii," Teodoro said in response.

Meanwhile, Barbers said there is also a “strong and justifiable need” to provide naval troops or conduct military exercises in the country’s eastern seaboard to cover the Pacific Ocean due to the “real possibility” that China may intrude and invade the “unguarded areas” in the eastern border.

“Considering the China’s aggressiveness, and complete disregard of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) decision and our diplomatic protests on the WPS issue, the country should now adopt a pro-active stance on those issues to protect our territorial waters,” he said.

Barbers and his elder brother, Surigao del Norte Governor Robert Lyndon Barbers, has earlier announced that they welcome any government move to provide and install a Philippine Navy station or an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) site in the province to further protect and defend the country’s eastern seaboard from drug traffickers, criminal enterprises, and foreign intruders.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1224111