Malacañang on Wednesday denied China’s claim that the Philippine government had promised to remove the grounded BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal, as the National Security Council described the statement of China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin as nothing but “fiction and imagination.”
No less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. denied the existence of any accord between the two countries, contradicting Beijing’s claim that the Philippines had previously committed to relocating the naval vessel.
“I’m not aware of any such arrangement or agreement that the Philippines will remove from its territory its ship, in this case, the BRP Sierra Madre from the Ayungin Shoal,” Marcos said.
Marcos added that he was repealing any commitment should there be one between the Philippines and China on the supposed removal of the Sierra Madre from Ayungin.
“And let me go further. If there does exist such an agreement, I rescind that agreement now,” Marcos said.
Before Marcos released his statement, Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil had already denied that the Philippine government had earlier promised to remove the vessel from Ayungin, which Beijing calls Ren’ai Jiao.
“No such thing,” said Garafil in a message to reporters, echoing the statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs that the BRP Sierra Madre would remain at Ayungin Shoal.
The ship has been grounded there since 1999 to assert the Philippines’ sovereignty over the area. China, however, claims Ayungin Shoal as part of its territory.
No commitment
In a separate media briefing, NSC spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said the country did not make any commitment to China about the Sierra Madre.
“There is no record or any minutes of a meeting or any formal report or any legal document or a legally enforceable document or otherwise a verbal agreement without the knowledge of the National Security Council,” Malaya stressed.
Wang earlier said Ren’ai Jiao was part of China’s Nansha Qundao. But the Philippines has maintained its sovereignty over the shoal as affirmed by the 2016 Arbitral Ruling.
“Ayungin Shoal is located in our exclusive economic zone, it is part of our continental shelf and that fact was affirmed by the 2016 ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague so if someone from the Philippines made the agreement that goes against the legal position of the government, so again we can consider this, I think of it as fiction… imaginations of the Chinese ambassador,” Malaya said.
“We don’t know anything, even if you track back the statements of previous secretaries or even media reports, you would not see that kind of agreement being discussed,” he added.
Malaya said the BRP Sierra Madre serves as a symbol of Philippine sovereignty over Ayungin Shoal, thus, towing it away will never be an option for the country.
The NSC likewise challenged China to back up its claims about the alleged Philippine promise, otherwise, Beijing’s statements have no basis at all.
Not in sync
Meanwhile, maritime law expert and director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, Atty. Jay Batongbacal said the Chinese Foreign Ministry has been issuing statements that are not in sync with what is happening in the WPS.
Batongbacal said he sees that China’s bullying and aggression have one purpose — to make the Philippine government give up its claims in the WPS.
In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “In 1999, the Philippines sent a military vessel and deliberately ran it aground at Ren’ai Jiao, attempting to change the status quo of Ren’ai Jiao illegally. The Philippines promised several times to tow it away but has yet to act.”
Ayungin is 105.77 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine province, Palawan. It is an integral part of the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile continental shelf, a provision outlined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
Ayungin Shoal is more than 1,000 kilometers from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan Island.
Over the weekend, the Philippine Coast Guard reported that the China Coast Guard engaged in hazardous maneuvers and used a water cannon against Philippine vessels on a supply mission to the military troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre with essentials like food, water, fuel, and other necessities.
After the incident, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippine government sent a note verbale to China.
Additionally, the President underscored that the Philippines will continue to assert its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.
However, China has defended its recent actions as “professional” and accused the Philippines of making an “illegal delivery of construction materials” to the grounded ship.
“Twenty-four years have passed, the Philippine side has not only failed to tow away the warship, but also attempted to repair and reinforce it on a large scale to achieve permanent occupation of the Ren’ai Reef,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said, using the Chinese name for the Ayungin Shoal.
China said last month that it did not acknowledge or accept the 2016 ruling of the South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal that favored the Philippines. The ruling had determined that Beijing’s assertion of near-total control over the South China Sea lacked valid basis.
Meddling of allies
In a related development, a security analyst reacting to statements issued by the international community and US Defense Chief Lloyd Austin III said the “meddling” of foreign allies could only intensify the tension in the disputed waters.
Professor Rommel Banlaoi, a security analyst and director of the Center for Intelligence and National Security Studies, said the US should not interfere in the matter, as the current situation in the WPS is not yet military in nature that requires military defense treaty action.
“Raising the MDT will only militarize the problem,” Banlaoi said in an exclusive interview.
He said, “The involvement of the US and other foreign diplomats can support the Philippine position but is counterproductive in the peaceful settlement of disputes with China.”
Banlaoi earlier maintained that the PCG could have asked for a bilateral arrangement with the CCG, since both parties are claimants to the disputed territory, and the PCG cannot just brag that the incident took place inside the Philippine EEZ.
“Remember, our EEZ is being disputed by China. We cannot address the issue without China’s cooperation. So we need to encourage China to cooperate,” he said.