MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has “fired off” two diplomatic protests against China’s two aggressive moves in the South China Sea, which its chief Teodoro Locsin Jr. described as “violations of international law and Philippine sovereignty.”
Locsin tweeted on Wednesday that the diplomatic protests were filed with the Chinese Embassy in Manila, saying the protests against China was due to their alleged harassment of a Philippine Navy ship and its unilateral establishment of two districts that cover Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea.
“At 5:17 p.m. (on Wednesday), the Chinese embassy received 2 diplomatic protests: 1. on the pointing of a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship in PH waters & 2. declaring parts of Philippine territory as part of Hainan province – both violations of international law & Philippine sovereignty,” Locsin said on Twitter.
The two new districts – one in the Paracels and one in the Spratlys, where several areas are claimed by the Philippines – will be under the authority of the local government in Sansha, a city in the southern island of Hainan.
Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan are in tangle in decades-long territorial conflict in the South China Sea, where oil and gas deposits have been discovered in several areas.
China claims a huge portion of the South China Sea as part of its territory, but the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal in The Hague invalidated this claim on July 12, 2016 following a case filed by the Philippines in 2013.
Beijing refused to recognize and has belittled the ruling, saying that it has “indisputable” and “historical” claim over nearly the entire waters even as it encroaches on the territories of its smaller neighbors./PN
