Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed optimism that Chinese President Xi Jingping will respond positively to his request that Filipino fishermen in northern Luzon should be allowed to fish near Scarborough Shoal off the South China Sea. Beijing had occupied it following a standoff with Philippine vessels in 2012.
“I leave it to the Chinese authorities what they will do in the next few days. Let’s wait and see what will happen in days to come,” said Duterte in a press conference in Davao City, southern Philippines early Saturday morning.
“Yes, of course [we talked about the Scarborough Shoal issue]. I cannot give more details,” said Duterte when pressed to discuss his “private talks” with Xi in Beijing last Thursday.
After the Xi-Duterte meeting, Chinese vice-foreign minister Liu Zhenmin said that both China and the Philippines agreed on coastguard and fisheries cooperation. He did not give more details.
“China will support the Philippines in developing aquaculture, fishery products processing so as to help deliver a better life for the fishermen of the Philippines,” said Liu, adding, “The two sides will have more exchanges of views on fishery cooperation and China will make proper arrangements.”
Xi and Duterte’s joint statement after their meeting added, “The two sides agreed that they will do what they agreed five years ago, that is to pursue bilateral dialogue and consultation in seeking a proper settlement of the South China Sea issue”.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon admitted sending USS Decatur, a US destroyer, to the Paracel Islands off the South China Sea last Friday, but added it did not pass within the 12 nautical mile zone that international law defines as territorial waters. The Pentagon said the USS Decatur’s passage was done in “a routine, lawful manner without ship escorts and without incident”.
“The ‘[US warship’s] entrance into China’s territorial waters is a serious illegal act and a deliberately provocative act,” China’s defence ministry complained,
The incident “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security interests, and had seriously broken relevant Chinese law and international law,” China’s foreign ministry told Washington.
It was the third time the US, a military ally of the Philippines, symbolically expressed its call for “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea.
Last July, The Hague-based Permanent Court Arbitration ruled that China’s entire claim of the South China Sea and its enhancement of rocks and shoals into artificial islands there were illegal. The tribunal ruled that it should open Scarborough Shoal, 230 miles west of northern Luzon in the Philippines, as a common fishing ground of fishermen from all claimant countries in the South China Sea.
China ignored the court’s proceedings, its ruling and implementation. The Philippine government filed its complaint in 2013, months after China’s occupation of the shoal.
China, Taiwan and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines claim their respective 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones in the sea-lane where $5.3 trillion (Dh19.5 trillion) worth of cargo passes every year.
