Senators: Phl Should Reject China Law Authorizing Coast Guard To Fire On Foreign Vessels If Needed

The Philippine government should reject the new law passed in Beijing authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels and destroy structures in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, senators said on Sunday, Jan. 24.

In separate interviews, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sen. Francis Pangilinan also said the Philippines must raise the new threat to the region’s stability before the international community.

Based on reports, the new law that for the first time explicitly allows China’s coast guard to fire on foreign vessels could make the contested waters around China more choppy.

The new Coast Guard Law passed by the National People’s Congress on Friday, Jan. 22, was clearly meant to intimidate vessels of other South China Sea claimants,  including the Philippines, which has marked out the West Philippine Sea as its territory, the senators said.

China claims the entire South China Sea as its own and has already put up several artificial islands in West Philippine Sea that serve as military installations.

Recto said the law threatens the stability of the region as well as freedom of navigation in the critical maritime passage where from $4 trillion to $5 trillion in trade transits every year.

“That’s (new law) very unfortunate because it creates more instability in the West Philippine Sea and the entire region,” Recto said.

“The government should warn our naval vessels and our Air Force to be on guard, and even our commercial and fishing vessels for that matter,” he added.

Recto noted, however, that the precautions that will be undertaken by the military ships and aircraft as well as private vessels plying the West Philippine Sea to avoid shooting incidents should not mean the government would be discouraged from confronting any encroachment in the country’s waters.

“We should raise this with our ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian) neighbors, and even with our dialogue partners like Japan, India and the United States,” Recto said.

China has also a territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.

China has sent its coast guard to chase away fishing vessels from other countries, sometimes resulting in the sinking of these vessels.

The government should also study the filing of a diplomatic protest if applicable, Recto said.

Pangilinan, for his part, stressed Beijing has been bullying the country’s fishermen and maritime authorities even before the new law was passed.

“We reject and do not recognize foreign laws that encroach on our territorial seas and exclusive economic zone. Indonesia and Vietnam refuse to be intimidated. I adamantly refuse to believe that they are braver than we are, and I firmly believe that ours is not a nation of cowards,” Pangilinan said.

China has declared an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in a large portion of the East China Sea in 2013 to allow its air force to challenge other aircraft entering the space it declared as its territory.

Experts warn that Beijing will soon also declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea.

According to draft wording in the bill published earlier, the coast guard is allowed to use “all necessary means” to stop or prevent threats from foreign vessels.

The bill specifies the circumstances under which different kind of weapons – hand-held, ship borne or airborne – can be used.

The bill allows coast guard personnel to demolish other countries’ structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs and to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China.

The bill also empowers the coastguard to create temporary exclusion zones “as needed” to stop other vessels and personnel from entering.

Responding to concerns, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday that the law is in line with international practices.

The first article of the bill explains that the law is needed to safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and maritime rights.

This law comes seven years after China merged several civilian maritime law-enforcement agencies to form a coast guard bureau.

After the bureau came under the command of the People’s Armed Police in 2018, it became a proper branch of the military forces. – With Reuters