IT is nothing but a pretext to Beijing’s encroachment of the country’s territorial waters.
This was how the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) described the joint research project between the Philippines and China in the Philippine Rise, the country’s newest territory 250 kilometers off Aurora Province.
According to Pamalakaya, just like what it transpired in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines will be in for yet another surprise when China begins to invade the country’s resource-rich territory.
Pamalakaya said China has established defense facilities in the West Philippine Sea.
The group assailed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for allowing China, in partnership with the Philippines, to conduct an unspecified research activity in Philippine Rise, formerly known as Benham Rise.
The Philippine Rise is a 13-million-hectare resource-rich underwater plateau opposite to the disputed waters of South China Sea. It is endowed with abundant marine species like first-class tuna, and untapped mineral and gas deposits. It was confirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) as part of the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone in April 2012.
Pamalakaya likened the joint research to the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in 2005, which led to the complete takeover of China of a large portion of Spratly Islands, including the Reed Bank near Palawan and other parts of the West Philippine Sea that are now occupied by Beijing.
“This latest version of joint research is clearly a manipulative move by China for its new territorial expansion and usurpation. The research would give China access to potential resources and marine features of the rise, and then it would be followed by exploration and reclamation activities,” Pamalakaya Chairman, Fernando Hicap, said in a news statement.
The group said that knowing China’s military capabilities, Beijing could craft another historical document that will justify their illegal claim.
“We fear that their nine-dash-line assumption would extend with more lines to cover the rise and justify their claim.”
According to Pamalakaya, the joint research in Philippine Rise with China is a culpable violation of national patrimony and tantamount to surrender of our marine territory and its resources.
Instead of conducting joint research, the group said, the government must pressure China to comply with the international tribunal’s decision and give up its claim over the country’s territorial waters.