Skip to main content

Reuters Philippines to protest China's planned construction on disputed shoal

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines plans to file a strong protest against China after it announced preparatory work for an environmental monitoring station on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a Cabinet minister said on Tuesday.
China five years ago started blockading the Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop within the Philippines' 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the United States has warned Beijing against carrying out the land reclamation work there.
Justice Minister Vitaliano Aguirre told reporters Manila would file a complaint against Beijing's plan to install a radar station on Scarborough Shoal.
"The case which will be filed is fairly strong I think," he said.
The Philippines would take necessary action to defend and protect the country's sovereignty and entitlements in the disputed maritime borders, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
"President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly asserted that the Philippines is not giving up its claims and our entitlements over the area," he said.
The mayor in charge of administration of disputed South China Sea islands and reefs China controls last week said preparatory work was being planned this year to build monitoring stations on a number of islands.
Duterte was asked on Sunday for his response to the report of a radar station to be built at the Scarborough Shoal and said: "We cannot stop China."
He also said it was pointless going to war with China
China until late last year had two to three coastguard ships guarding the shoal and stopping Filipinos from tapping its vast fish stocks. An international tribunal ruled last year that Beijing violated Manila's entitlements and no country has sole rights to fish there.
However, just days after Duterte visited China and heralded a new era of ties, Filipinos returned to fish at the periphery of the shoal, unimpeded by Chinese vessels.
Aguirre said the Philippines would renew its strong ties with Washington in the face of China's aggressive action in the shoal, which is 124 nautical miles from nearest coast of the main island of Luzon.
"As a matter of fact, we're strengthening the relationship with the United States," he told reporters.
Last month, former Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the U.S. had dissuaded China from reclaiming Scarborough Shoal, which security analysts consider a red line that could escalate tension in the region.
China has put missiles and radar on some of its seven manmade islands in another part of the South China Sea, a strategic water claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The U.S. stresses the importance of free navigation in the sea, through which more than $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year.
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Martin Petty)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers

  Jailbreak: FG pledges to relocate correctional centers Published   on   April 26, 2024 By   Esther Chisom Tunji-Ojo made the pledge when he visited the Suleja Medium Security Custodial Centre. DAILY POST recalls that 119 inmates escaped from the prison following a rainstorm that damaged the facility on Wednesday. The minister said it was imperative to relocate a lot of the correctional centres to a more conducive environment. “This facility was built in 1914 to house 250 inmates; before this incident, we had 499. “This is a testimony to what we keep talking about the overcrowding of our correctional centres. “You can look at the environment, it shows that we need to relocate them away from city centres to create better space, better security, and better infrastructure,” he said in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Mr Ozoya Imohimi. Tunji-Ojo said the ministry is already working behind the scenes to build a be...
Post a Comment
Read more

FG set to deploy first batch of CNG vehicles ahead of Tinubu's one year in office come 29th May 2024

  FG announce plans to deploy the first batch of CNG Vehicles ahead of first anniversary of Tinubu in office on May 29th 2024. Said N100 billion was allocated to purchase 5,500 CNG vehicles, 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. Deployment of CNG vehicles is parts of FG’s vision to have at least one million natural gas propelled vehicles on the roads by 2027. The Federal Government has announced plans to start the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses and tricycles   for mass transit ahead of Tinubu administration’s first anniversary on May 29th. The move was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Sunday April 21st 2024. According to him, the Federal Government allocated N100 billion last year to purchase 5,500 CNG-powered vehicles (buses and tricycles), 100 electric buses, and over 20,000 CNG conversion kits. The funding, which is part of the N500 billion palliative budget, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jonathan Opens Up: "Why I Don’t Want To Testify For Metuh"

An application filed by former President Goodluck Jonathan before the Federal High Court in Abuja has revealed further reasons why he wants to be excused from appearing as a witness in defence of a former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh. Metuh is standing trial on charges involving, among others, the N400m he (Metuh) received from the Office of the National Security Adviser in 2014. The former President in his motion challenging the subpoena issued on him, stated that with “with several attempts by some persons in the current dispensation, to harass, intimidate and rubbish” his reputation and that of his wife, the witness summon issued on him upon Metuh’s request was a ploy to drag his name in the mud. He also argued in the motion filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), on Monday, that his testimony being sought in Metuh’s trial, would not only amount to an invasion of his right to privacy, it would also expose him to a cri...
Post a Comment
Read more