Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Sea feud with China flares as Marcos prepares for
presidency
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JIM GOMEZ
Tue, May 31, 2022, 2:55 AM
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government
announced Tuesday a new diplomatic protest against China over disputes in the South
China Sea, a long-thorny issue that has flared anew as the next Philippine
president prepares to take office next month.
The Philippines has filed hundreds of diplomatic protests against Beijing in recent years for what it considers acts of aggression in the disputed waters, despite improved ties between Beijing and Manila under outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ends on June 30.
The territorial conflicts are among the key challenges President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will face when he takes office after his landslide electoral victory on May 9. He has said he will use diplomatic means with China over the issue, the same approach adopted by Duterte, who has been criticized for not taking a more aggressive stance against Beijing’s increasingly assertive actions in the resource-rich and busy waterway.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday it filed a diplomatic protest over China’s imposition early this month of an annual fishing ban lasting three and a half months that covers areas in the disputed waters where “the Philippines has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.”
It said the ban is not limited to Chinese fishing vessels
and violates the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and a 2016
arbitration tribunal’s decision that invalidated Beijing’s vast historic claims
in the strategic waterway and upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights in a
stretch of coastal waters called its exclusive economic zone.
China does not recognize the arbitration ruling and continues to defy it.
The Chinese ban “has no basis in law, and undermines the mutual trust, confidence, and respect that should underpin bilateral relations,“ the department said in a statement.
“The Philippines calls on China to comply with its obligations under international law” and “cease and desist from the conduct of illegal actions,” including its “annual practice of declaring a fishing ban over areas that extend far beyond China’s legitimate maritime entitlements,” it said.
They said they were reviewing other recent violations of Philippine rights in Second Thomas Shoal and Reed Bank, which lie within Manila’s exclusive economic zone but which China also claims, before taking further diplomatic action.
The department said it summoned a Chinese Embassy official in Manila to protest the “harassment by the Chinese coast guard” of research vessel R/V Legend, which was undertaking a survey of undersea fault lines along the Manila Trench west of the northern Philippines.
Philippine diplomats did not provide other details, but people involved in the scientific research told The Associated Press last month that a Chinese coast guard ship shadowed R/V Legend, which was carrying five Filipino scientists and an unspecified number of Taiwanese counterparts, from March 25 to 30.
A Chinese coast guard ship maneuvered about 2 to 3 nautical miles (3 to 5 kilometers) from the R/V Legend, causing concern among the scientists because the research vessel was towing a long survey cable in the sea, said Carla Dimalanta of the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines.
The offshore survey, which was scheduled to end April 13, was a joint project of the Philippine institute and the National Central University in Taiwan and aimed to help map offshore faults and other geologic features that could set off earthquakes, tsunamis and other hazards. The research was partly funded by the Philippine Department of Science and Technology, she said.
The Filipino scientists reported the incident to the Philippine government, which deployed a coast guard patrol ship, the BRP Capones, to keep watch on the research vessel, the coast guard in Manila said last month.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have been locked in a tense territorial standoff in the busy waterway for decades.
Translation
菲律賓馬尼拉（美聯社）- 菲律賓政府週二宣布就南海爭端對中國發起新的外交抗議，這是一個長期棘手的問題，隨著下一任菲律賓總統準備下個月就職，這個問題再次爆發。
近年來，儘管即將於 6 月 30 日離任, 結束其六年任期的總統杜特爾特（Rodrigo Duterte）有改善北京與馬尼拉之間的關係，菲律賓近年來亦就其認為在爭議水域的侵略行為向北京提出了數百次外交抗議。
領土衝突是當選總統小馬可斯 (Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) 在 5 月 9 日以壓倒性優勢贏得選舉後上任時將面臨的主要挑戰之一。小馬可斯表示，他將在這個問題上對中國使用外交手段，這與杜特爾特採取的方法相同。杜特爾特因沒有採取更激進的立場, 以對應北京在資源豐富和繁忙的航道上日益壓迫行動而受到批評。
菲律賓外交部周二表示，它就中國本月初實施的為期三個半月的年度禁漁令提出了外交抗議，該禁令涵蓋了“菲律賓擁有主權、治權和司法權”的爭議水域。
它說，中國這項禁令不僅限於中國漁船，而且違反了 1982 年《聯合國海洋法公約》和 2016 年仲裁庭的裁決，該裁決使北京在戰略航道上的廣大歷史主張無效，並維護了菲律賓的沿海水域稱為其專屬經濟區的主權權利。
中方不承認仲裁並繼續抗拒裁決。
菲外交部在一份聲明中表示，中國的禁令“沒有法律依據，損害了用以支撐雙邊關係的互信、信心和尊重”。
它說: “菲律賓呼籲中國遵守其在國際法下的義務” 並 “停止及放棄進行非法行為”, 包括其“在遠超出中國合法海洋權利的區域宣布禁漁的年度做法”。
另外，菲律賓外交部官員周一晚間表示，該部門於 4 月初召見了一名中國外交官，以抗議中國海岸警衛隊據稱在南海騷擾一艘菲律賓研究船。
他們表示，在採取進一步外交行動之前，他們正在審查最近在仁愛礁和禮樂灘的其他侵犯菲律賓權利的行為，這些地方位於馬尼拉的專屬經濟區內，但中國也聲稱擁有這些地方。
該部門表示，它召見了一名中國駐馬尼拉大使館官員，抗議“中國海岸警衛隊”對研究船 R/V Legend 的“騷擾”，該船正在菲律賓北部以西的馬尼拉海溝沿線進行海底斷層線調查。
菲律賓外交官沒有提供其他細節，但參與科學研究的人士上個月告訴美聯社，一艘中國海警船從 3 月 25 日起到 30日跟踪 R/V Legend，這艘船上載有五名菲律賓科學家和數量不詳同行的台灣科學家。
一艘中國海警船在距離 R/V Legend 約 2 到 3 海裡（3 到 5 公里）處調動，引起科學家們的關注，因為這艘研究船在海中拖著一根長長的勘測電纜，菲律賓大學的國家地質科學研究所的Carla Dimalanta 說。
這個於 4 月 13 日結束的海上勘測計劃是菲律賓研究所和台灣國立中央大學的聯合項目，旨在幫助繪製可能引發地震、海嘯和其他災害的海上斷層和其他地質特徵。她說，這項研究的部分資金來自菲律賓科技部。
菲律賓海岸警衛隊上個月表示，菲律賓科學家向菲律賓政府報告了這一事件後，菲律賓政府部署了一艘海岸警衛隊巡邏艦 BRP
Capones 來守望這艘研究船。
幾十年來，中國、菲律賓、越南、台灣、馬來西亞和文萊在繁忙的航道中一直處於緊張的領土對峙之中。
在過去的歲月，菲律賓一直抗議中國海岸警衛隊攔截前往仁愛礁途中的菲律賓補給船，菲律賓海軍陸戰隊在那裡守望著一艘長期擱淺的海軍艦艇。菲律賓官員說，中國船隻還打擾在禮樂灘勘探海底石油和天然氣的菲律賓船隻。
So, the Philippines has filed
hundreds of diplomatic protests against Beijing in recent years for what it
considers acts of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters. Territorial
conflicts will be among the key challenges President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
will face when he takes office.
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