Philippine coast guard personnel and a Chinese coast guard ship on April 23, 2023.
Ted Aljibe | Afp | Getty Images
ThePhilippinessaid Monday there was no truth to news reports that Beijinghasseizedcontrol of adisputedreefin theSouthChinaSea, after its personnel landed on the unoccupied sandbars and found no Chinese presence there.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday said its coast guard had landed on Sandy Cay as part of maritime control operations to exercise its sovereignty. It didnotsayChinawas occupying the feature.
CCTV showed pictures of four coast guard personnel in black combat gear holding a Chinese flag after arriving on Sandy Cay on an inflatable dinghy.
Philippine National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya on Monday said news reports ofChinaseizing Sandy Cay were false as a Philippine team had visited the sandbars on Sunday and found nobody there.
“We are here to debunk that and to assure the public that we havenotlost the Pagasa Cays,” Malaya said, using the Filipino name for the sandbars, calling the reports “irresponsible”.
Strategic Spratlys
Ties betweenChinaand the U.S. ally thePhilippinesare significantly strained amid heated spats overdisputedparts of theSouthChinaSea, where Beijinghasdeployed an armada of coast guard to reinforce its claim to sovereignty over almost the entire waterway.
ThePhilippinesis vexed by what it calls Beijing’s “aggressive” conduct and the permanent presence in its exclusive economic zone of Chinese coast guard and what Manila considers a militia of fishing vessels under its control.
Sandy Cay is close to Thitu Island, the largest and most strategically important of the nine features thePhilippinesoccupies in the Spratly archipelago, whereMalaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan andChinaalso have a presencecollectively on dozens of features ranging fromreefs and rocks to islands, natural and artificial.
China’s manmade islands include runways, ports and missile systems.
ThePhilippineson Sunday said it observed near Thitu Island what it called the illegal presence of Chinese coast guard and militia vessels.
China’s foreign ministry said on Monday it “resolutely upholds the seriousness” of a 2002 declaration with itsSoutheast Asian neighbors on conduct in theSouthChinaSea, which includednotoccupying more uninhabited features after Malaya reminded Beijing it was bound by it.
China’s moves were “aimed at countering illegal actions, such as thePhilippines’ unlawful occupation of thereefand other infringing and provocative activities, to firmly safeguard national territorial sovereignty, ensure that (Sandy Cayreef) remains uninhabited and without facilities,” said its spokesperson Guo Jiakun.
The latest trading of barbs comes as both thePhilippinesandChinaaccuse each other ofespionageand disinformation, further fueling diplomatic tensions.
ThePhilippinesis investigating allegations by its security council that Chinese state-sponsored groups may be attempting toinfluence the outcome of next moth’s mid-term election, which Beijinghasrejected.
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