China has 'no legal right' to conduct law enforcement in West Philippine Sea: Teodoro
After Sunday's collision of Chinese and Philippine vessels at Ayungin Shoal, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Monday that China has no legal right to conduct law enforcement operations in the West Philippine Sea.
This is the third incident this year involving Chinese vessels blocking the Philippine ships from conducting a resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre which is grounded in Ayungin Shoal.
“The Philippine government views the latest aggression by China as a blatant violation of international law. China has no legal right or authority to conduct law enforcement operations in our territorial waters and in our exclusive economic zone,” Teodoro said at a press briefing in Malacanang.
“So we are taking this incident seriously at the highest levels of government. The use by China of brute force behind this ingenious facade necessitates this course of action,” he added.
According to Teodoro, the incident was a “serious escalation of the illegal activities conducted by the Chinese government in the West Philippine Sea in complete disregard of any norm or convention of international law”.
Teodoro added that China was twisting the truth and spreading misinformation about the collision.
“We are here to really decry in the strongest possible terms this egregious violation and illegal act within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone and the obfuscation of the truth by China’s distorting the story to fit its own ends,” Teodoro said.
“Any unbiased person with a modicum of reason will see that this is not restraint. And there was another attempt to distort the narrative by saying there was a supposed promise. That has been put to rest already that there is no promise and if ever there was, such, if ever, which we do not accept, rescinded. We cannot compromise within our 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone within the bounds of our constitution,” he said.
“Our constitution is clear about our territorial integrity and sovereignty of which there can admit of no compromise. Particularly in the face of the of the arbitral award. So the preface to their statements are to us a distortion of the truth,” he added.
China previously accused the Philippines of not fulfilling its supposed promise to tow away BRP Sierra Madre.
Teodoro then urged the whole world and the country to condemn China’s “illegal and oppressive actions”.
On Sunday, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) said Chinese vessels collided with an indigenous boat contracted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel during a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal.
The NTF-WPS said another indigenous boat was able to “successfully” send supplies to soldiers stationed at BRP Sierra Madre.
In response, China said that the Philippines continues to trespass on its territory despite multiple warnings and insisted that its operations were "professional, standardized, legitimate, and legal". Jaspearl Tan/DMS
