(UPDATE) THE National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) is formulating new guidelines on how the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will respond to acts of harassment in the West Philippine Sea.
The task force felt the need for a new set of rules after a China Coast Guard ship flashed a military-grade laser at a PCG vessel last February 9.
The PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela, told The Manila Times the agency “will always base its actions particularly in the West Philippine Sea on the rules on the use of force. So for now, we are currently reviewing and formulating new procedures as to how we are going to respond to another laser-pointing again or any other forms of harassment that the Chinese coast guard will do.”
The NTF-WPS was formed in 2016 to resolve the perceived lack of coordination between agencies, including the coast guard and the navy, when it comes to protecting of the country’s interests in the West Philippine Sea, at a time when China has become more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The task force is composed of undersecretaries from 15 different government agencies, with the national security adviser as chairman.
Tarriela said the United States and Japan are also helping the Philippines build up its defense capability, particularly that of the coast guard, to better protect its interest in the West Philippine Sea.
“We have yet to receive operational inputs on how we are going to define our procedures and respond to this kind of aggression from the Chinese. It is an open book that we do not have that kind of laser technology, so we might still be needing inputs from our allies particularly from the US,” he said.
The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest to denounce the laser-beaming incident, which temporarily blinded the crew of the BRP Malapascua.
It was the ninth protest the country has filed against Beijing this year.
China insists that it used a hand-held laser speed detector and green light pointer which does not inflict damage.
Tarriela said the PCG will leave it to the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to determine if the laser-flashing incident constitutes an act of aggression.
As far as the PCG is concerned, “laser-pointing or using water cannons, dangerous maneuvers, these are still just forms of harassment,” he said.
On Saturday Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the “daily events” of harassment or land reclamation in the South China Sea are depriving the Philippines of the use of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Speaking at the 59th Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Manalo called for the preservation and strengthening of multilateralism and a rules-based order amid the difficulties posed by post-pandemic recovery, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the escalating strategic rivalry between the US and China.
Manalo was a lead discussant in a roundtable event and a speaker at a Main Stage Panel Discussion at the conference.
On Twitter, Manalo said he and Fu Ying, the vice chairman of the foreign affairs committee of China’s National People’s Congress, who also attended the conference, “discussed the latest incidents in the contested Ayungin Shoal between the two countries’ coast guards as they vowed to further strengthen the relationship despite the maritime tensions.”
In a separate tweet, Manalo said he “spoke about the importance of a rules-based international order, maritime security based on Unclos (United Nations on the Convention on the Law of the Sea) and peaceful settlement of disputes especially with regard to the West Philippine Sea.”
He said that on a “day-to-day basis, there are still many events occurring in the South China Sea, and there are daily incidents, at least as far as we see it, of cases of harassment or land reclamation, which in many cases have been depriving the Philippines of the use of our exclusive economic zone.”
“It is these challenges which the Philippines and other countries in our region face, especially those who have claims also in the South China Sea,” he said in a recorded video released by the DFA.
During the February 17 roundtable discussion on “Bridging Troubled Waters — Mapping Escalation Potential in the Indo-Pacific Region,” Manalo reiterated the Philippines’ firm resolve to address the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea issue through peaceful and legal means.
“Rival claims can only be solved peacefully by adhering to peaceful and rules-based approaches. The Philippine approach, articulated long before and formalized in the 1982 Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes, enjoys the support of the international community,” he said.
Manalo added that tensions caused by incidents and aggressive actions inconsistent with the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea are not conducive to promoting peace and stability.
Manalo also met with fellow foreign ministers from Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Finland, Malta, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden.
He also had a brief exchange with US Senator James Risch “to reaffirm the growing” Philippine and US ties on the sidelines of the Munich meeting.
source: manilatimes
