The Philippines—not China—is still in possession of Sandy Cay, the sandbar closest to the island of Pagasa in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana asserted on Thursday.
The defense chief told a virtual forum organized by the National Defense College of the Philippines that the government could have taken control of the cay and even developed it, had it not been for a status quo agreement that was signed with China.
“We should have taken control of Sandy Cay before, but in 2018, when we decided to put up some infrastructure, the Chinese raised a howl,” he said, adding, “We cannot do that, there was an agreement between the foreign affairs secretary and the minister of foreign affairs of China earlier in 2018.”
The defense chief did not disclose the details of the agreement and who was at the helm of the foreign affairs office then when the supposed agreement was signed.
Lorenzana said there had been plans to develop not only Pagasa, but even all of the islands and features occupied by the country in the WPS.
There had been claims earlier that the military could not take effective control of Sandy Cay because it has been surrounded by Chinese maritime militia vessels, but Lorenzana said he did not see any Chinese vessel when he went to Pagasa recently.
“When we went there, I think there were about six fishing vessels, fishing somewhere there because it is shallow. Maybe there are a lot of fish there,” he said.
“But I did not see any ship from the other side, or the Chinese surrounding Sandy Cay. Recently, the water from Pagasa to Sandy Cay is very shallow, they cannot go there,” he added.
Lorenzana said the cay is closer to Pagasa than the Chinese-occupied Subi Reef, which he described as teeming with buildings.
“Subi Reef is about 14 nautical miles from Pagasa. In fact, on a clear day when you can go to the runway of Pagasa, you can already see the skyline of Subi Reef, big buildings, tall buildings,” he said.
The defense secretary said China has not occupied any feature in the WPS “other than those they already have at the start of Mr. Duterte’s presidency.”
“So they remain there, continue to update their facilities there, like the manner that we are also trying to upgrade our facilities in Pagasa,” he said.
Meanwhile, the defense secretary noted that more and more countries have been establishing their presence in the South China Sea in support of the international effort to keep the international waterway open to navigation.
One of the countries that had recently expressed its intention to carry out patrol, or even conduct exercises in the regional waters was India, whose forces were recently involved in a skirmish with Chinese forces in an area claimed by both countries in the Himalayas.
“We did not invite [India], but they volunteered to go there so we told them that the South China Sea is open for navigation to everybody, it’s okay with us,” Lorenzana said.
“The French and all other countries, we did not invite them to come, [they just], they wanted to volunteer and they came,” he added.
Image credits: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
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