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MANILA, Philippines — There appears to be no ceasefire in sight between lawmakers and the Chinese embassy, with both trading barbs before the weekend over the recent Senate resolution condemning Chinese diplomats for making hostile remarks against Philippine officials.
In a strongly worded statement yesterday, embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng asked Philippine senators who they think they are, while emphasizing that the embassy is not intimidated nor threatened by such “tricks” and that some Philippine politicians are ignorant and arrogant.
“Senate President Sotto said, ‘When someone triggers you to react and you do not, it’s annoying!’ But who’s doing the triggering and really annoying? There’s an anti-China resolution. Someone wants to declare Chinese diplomat persona non grata. But when the Chinese embassy responds like any normal embassy would, some senators can’t get over that,” the statement posted on the embassy’s official Facebook page read.
“Some senators are still urging ‘recall of the aggressive and sensitive Chinese Ambassador.’ Who do they think they are? Do they even have the capability? They know they can’t do that, yet they keep repeating the same old tricks – always posturing, always bluffing. Who exactly are they trying to intimidate and threaten? Do they really think anyone is scared? Is this supposed to be impressive? Does anyone actually buy it? Is that what they call ‘respect?,’ ” Ji said.
The latest statement even asserted that “when it comes to serious diplomatic affairs, some politicians behave like children playing house.”
“Could they at least try to act like adults? If they don’t understand how diplomacy works, they can learn. Spouting nonsense only exposes their ignorance and arrogance that seems to come from nowhere,” Ji said.
The Chinese embassy warned that “any serious damage to diplomatic relations, including downgrading of those relations, would cost millions of jobs.”
Earlier this week, the Senate adopted Resolution 256 condemning China’s diplomats for their insults against Philippine officials who voiced defense of the country’s sovereignty and maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Philippines not a province of China – De Lima
Meanwhile, House deputy minority leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima reminded Ji yesterday that the Philippines is not a province of China.
De Lima also reminded the Chinese embassy spokesperson that diplomatic immunity from suit as guest of the Philippine government has limits.
“May I remind them that there is a limit to their abuse of immunity, because reminding them of the limits of free speech is useless, free speech being alien to them as China was never a democracy in any meaningful sense in its long history,” De Lima said in a statement in reaction to Ji’s remarks labeling the Senate’s passage of SR 256 as a mere political stunt.
“This is the problem with individuals raised without democracy, but under party dictators,” she added.
De Lima said that China seems to think that the Philippines is a province of China, “and that they are the provincial party leaders enforcing communist laws. To the officials of the Chinese embassy: You are not in China.”
Only China enters Philippine waters – PCG
It is only China that comes close to the point of harassment to areas in the South China Sea where the Philippines and neighboring countries uphold sovereign rights, maintains Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela.
“Let me clarify that Philippine Coast Guard vessels never approach any of China’s illegally reclaimed and occupied maritime features across the West Philippine Sea (WPS), unless the honorable senator believes that Bajo de Masinloc, Escoda Shoal, Ayungin Shoal, and Pag-asa Island are rightfully Chinese territory,” Tarriela, PCG spokesman on the West Philippine Sea, wrote in a post on his social media accounts yesterday.
He was addressing Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, and referred to another name for Panatag or Scarborough Shoal that is Bajo de Masinloc, which is within the WPS covered by the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
“On the contrary, it is the PRC (People’s Republic of China) that constantly engages in harassment and dangerous maneuvers close to Philippine occupied features and waters,” Tarriela added.
He also said Cayetano could “choose to believe PRC talking points filled with falsehoods, or the Philippine Coast Guard personnel and independent journalists who present clear and incontrovertible evidence – photos, videos and verifiable records.”
Tarriela explained the Philippines “never venture(s) closer to features occupied by Vietnam, Malaysia and especially Panganiban Reef and Zamora Reef because such is irresponsible and neither grounded in the 2002 ASEAN-China DOC (Declaration of Conduct) nor aligned with Philippine interests,” and that Vietnam and Malaysia do the same.
“The PRC is the only party to the South China Sea dispute not respecting the provisions of the DOC, and of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” he said.
Tarriela issued the statement, after Cayetano accused the Philippine side of “not being totally truthful to the Filipino people on what’s happening at the West Philippine Sea, South China Sea.”
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said no, after Cayetano asked him if Philippine assets come close to features in the South China Sea occupied by Vietnam.
Cayetano’s pronouncements “simply muddle the issue, which whether intentional or not, makes China very happy as our political leaders doubt our own rights and actions,” Tarriela said.
Carpio wants series of debates
Meanwhile, former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio called on Sen. Rodante Marcoleta to have a “series of debates (that) can be held in different universities all over the country.”
“The core issue is whether the West Philippine Sea legally exists since Sen. Marcoleta denies its existence. If Sen. Marcoleta is correct that there is legally no West Philippine Sea, then there is no point in proceeding with further debates. We cannot debate on something that does not exist,” Carpio wrote in a statement obtained by The STAR.
Carpio maintained that Bajo de Masinloc and the Spratly Islands have been part of Philippine territory since the Spanish colonial era.
