Philippines formally protests China over sea flights

By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

The Philippines has formally protested China’s recent test flights to an airfield on one of seven disputed islands in the South China Sea.

A foreign affairs spokesperson told reporters that the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Manila had been summoned to the department last week to receive the protest in the form of a diplomatic note.

“We formally protested on 8 January 2016 the recent test flights conducted by China to the Kagitingan Reef and its provocative actions restricting the freedom of navigation and overflight in the WPS [West Philippine Sea],” Charles Jose. He referred to the Fiery Cross Reef and South China Sea by their local names.

Local media quoted Jose as saying that upon receipt of the note, China dismissed the protest, calling Beijing’s claimed sovereignty over the waters “indisputable.”

China claims almost the whole of the potentially oil and mineral-rich sea, but several other Asian nations – including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei as well as Taiwan – have also laid claim.

The country has built man-made islands on seven reefs, including Fiery Cross, a move that has sparked tensions and triggered concerns among several nations, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, the United States and Japan.

It deployed three test flights to a newly constructed airfield on the reef last week.

The Philippine spokesperson said Wednesday that such actions have escalated tensions in the region and violate the ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties, which contains informal regulations on the sea and was due to be replaced by a proposed Code of Conduct consisting of mechanisms to avoid conflict.

Vietnam, another of the regional bloc’s 10 member states, has also objected to Chinese flights to Fiery Cross Reef, which it too claims.

The Philippines has undertaken efforts to modernize its underdeveloped defense system amid the tension.

In late Novermber, two Korean-made fighter jets were delivered to a former major U.S. base in Angeles City as part of a P18.9 billion ($401.6 million) contract for a dozen of the aircraft.

In December, the first batch of more than 100 armored personnel carriers to be transferred from the U.S. government to the Philippines’ military arrived at another former U.S. base. in Subic Bay in Olongapo City.

On Tuesday, the Philippines’ Supreme Court ruled in favor of a ten-year pact allowing the U.S. military to set up camps inside major military bases of the Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as storing weapons and materials in the archipelago.

Critics have criticized the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement on the grounds that it allegedly undermines the sovereignty of the former U.S. colony.

The U.S. has maintained a heavy military presence in the Philippines since its independence in 1946.