China today issued a strongly worded statement after the Philippine Senate passed the Archipelagic Baselines Bill. The Chinese foreign ministry even asked the Philippine Charge d’Affairs to explain why the Philippines issued such a bill which effectively placed the Kalayaan Group of Islands and the Scarboroal Shoals under the “regime of islands” consistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The report says, and I quote:
“The government of the People’s Republic of China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands and their adjacent waters,” said a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
The statement took exception to Philippine claims on Huangyan Island — also known as Scarborough Shoal — and other parts of the Spratlys, which are known in China as the Nansha islands.
“Claims to territory sovereignty over Huangyan Island and the Nansha Islands by any other country are all illegal and invalid,” the statement said.
The baselines bill spells out the country’s claims on islands in the South China Sea that are claimed in whole or in part by a host of other countries.”
How dare China issue such a foolish statement. The Senate of the Philippines just gave them what they want. Since last year, China has been issuing statements opposing the Baselines versions of Senators Trillianes, Biazon and Enrile. Now, that a watered down version has been passed, China still balks and say that they oppose it? What do they want—for us to entirely say that the whole South China sea, all its islands, including Palawan and even the rest of the country are theirs? This is too much!
China should be taught a lesson. Come to think of it, this is entirely the fault of the Senators. Since we’ll get brickbats either way, the Senate should have passed a version consistent with Article 1 of the 1987 Constitution instead of accommodating this country who sells us defective, melamine-tainted and dangerous smuggled goods and dumps us with their rejects, small cars and prostitutes.
However, I sensed something uncanny here. Maybe this is just a zarzuela contrived by both the Philippines and China to show that China is displeased with us and that they just want us to hand over everything we have, including all of our territories to them. Probably, next time, our legislators would pass a bill declaring all Philippine territory as “Chinese”.
If China thinks that they can scare us with these tactics, they better think twice. Filipinos are ready to defend the Motherland from all threats.
Popularity: 1% [?]
You are funny.
You’re the one who kept saying that the Philippine Senate has betrayed the country over Spratlys; and now comes China.
From Inquirer:
Eto na…gyera na to…aatake na siguro ang china..kung magkaganun man..ILAGAY LAHAT NG POLITIKO SA FRONTLINE..PARA NATIN ANG KATAPANGAN NITONG MGA TO..ISAMA SA KANILA ANG KANILANG MGA BODYGUARDS NA MGA CIVILIAN LANG ANG KAYANG GULPIHIN…
at pag namatay na silang lahat…surrender na tayo..ayos na ang buto-buto..patay na lahat ng politiko sa pilipinas…pwede na magsimula ulit!!!!
bwihihihihiihihi
Hahaha. But Pat, they have these ancient maps see, that show “Son Lu” (Isle of Gold?) as a major tributary and vassal state of the Emperor. With ORs and books of account. I don’t think the “ancient Filipinos” called those islands “Scarborough Shoal” or “The Spratleys” either but I guess “Nansha” is a thousand year old place name on their imperial topographs and navigation charts.
They sound pretty serious about their claims though.
I think we better put that idea of abrogating the VFA on hold for a lil bit while the Senate looks at the lint in its navel.
“China should be taught a lesson.”
With what? Bolos and bananas?
Flag waving chest beating Gabrielas?
Philippine handbags in an Italian museum?
I don’t know Pat. The only thing we really seem to be good at is:
Shoot the foot. Cut the nose. Spite the face.
“I have sat at the sumptuous tables of power, but I have not run away with the silverware.” Diosdado Macapagal
That’s the problem with running away with the china.
Santa Mesa Heights, Greenhills (including Erap’s Polk Street abode), Binondo, Santa Cruz are historically parts of the Middle Kingdom. So what else is surprising Any shard of Chinese pottery is enough for the Capitalist Party in Beijing to make a historical claim.
Also we should cede Loyola Heights and that greenie campus on Taft. The Middle Kingdom has historical claims to them too. LOL! :-)
Also we should cede Gloria’s enchanted kingdom of Pampanga. It was a Chinese vassal together with Tundun.
We all blanched when the first woman president of this Republic gaily went to Fujian and proudly proclaimed her Chinese ancestry! A Filipino head of state should refrain from that.
BTW Frankie Sionil Jose’s analysis on one reason why the Joma Sison Revolution is a humongous flop is that by worshipping Mao, Joma failed to tap into the residual anti Chinese attitude of the mass of Filipinos.
Akalain mo bang kabit pala iyong kaso ni “Nicole” at ang Spratlys.
What are we to do? Intern all Chinese in Bilibid? Back in December 1941, the Commonwealth interned all Nips. But they were easy to spot and isolate. Los Japoneses estuvieron jardineros y los vendadores de halo halo y tansan!
Que los Chinos? They are much in control of the financial system!
We can’t take this Chinese diplomatic protest lightly. In the mid 1990s El Tabako Fidel can only shout to the whole world that the Chinese had built structures on Mischief Reef. El Tabako could only belt out karaoke tunes in duet with Jiang Zemin!
years later our airforce has no fighters to speak of! hey hey Fidel, where did the BCDA money for AFP modernization go?
“Probably, next time, our legislators would pass a bill declaring all Philippine territory as “Chinese”.”
No need, too late.
The land, the banks, the commerce, the malls and shopping centers, the factories, the politicians, etc. are already owned by the ‘Chinese’, heheh.
“China should be taught a lesson.”
“With what? Bolos and bananas?
Flag waving chest beating Gabrielas?
Philippine handbags in an Italian museum?
I don’t know Pat. The only thing we really seem to be good at is:
Shoot the foot. Cut the nose. Spite the face.”
DJB,
benignO will smile at this, heheh.
we filipinos are really funny. we felt the chinese are incursing the periphery of our archipelago off Batanes and we are sore about it when we have already sold the main island to the chinese. you just have to look at Isetan, SM Malls, Lucio Tan’s San Miguel and Philippine Airlines, Gokongwe’s Ramada, etc. etc. :)
add to that the plan to finance ZTE with chinese funds… and other government projects. the freedom island issue is but another entertainment for the Filipinos.. :)
They know that our Leaders are corrupt to the
bones. They dont need to scare us. They just
wave a bunch of Cash to our Politicians and Our
Leaders. They will give the Islands.
You dont need wars, threats, positionings, etc…
You just need Cold Damn Cash to do the job.
pagnakakita ng pera ang mga politiko…tulo laway sigurado bwahahahaha
“filipinos are ready to defend the motherland from all threats.” patricio mangubat
malakas ang loob, mahina ang tuhod.
just do it.
Claiming Scarborough Shoal based on the regime of island clause will not generate an additional EEZ or extended continental shelf with the shoal as the basis. Its territorial sea and contiguous zone is already overlapped by the EEZ of our west coast in Luzon.
Scarborough shoal included in our baseline is supposed to gain us an added 14,500sq nm of EEZ and continental shelf according to Sen. Trillanes.
China obviously won’t respect our claim to either KIG or Scarborough but we have got to make our legal claim.
We can’t go against China militarily but who is to say they won’t try to “evict” us either way, more so if we don’t have a legal claim.
Maybe China should pass some law and recognize the northern half of filipine is part of China.
Then lets see if China can make that a reality faster or Filipine with its baseline laws.
International ‘law’ or behavior is a dream. Everybody wants to talk about it, but nobody is really sure what it means. Its a regime to protect the weak states but just the same it doesn’t prevent the big and major powers from doing what they want.
An international law regime could only happen in an ideal world where unfeeling, unmotivated, unpoliticized leaders rule. But man by nature is not like that.
And the United States, with its lofty ideals is supposed to lead by example. But alas, no Siree! The Americans also breached what everyone thought they would pursue.
In the context of RP’s territory, I say be realistic. Have you an iota of what it takes to compete under ‘international law’ when such regime is written in thin air. More so, when one’s nationals are begging to be employed in other states. No way! Otherwise, dream on guys with your lofty, textbook analysis.
This is the real world. An international tribunal will bullshit you forever. But one or two hundred willing, able and ready (WAR) army divisions would convey a thousand words.
Tlaga nmang kurakot Gobyerno natin eh..
pera lng kailangan jan….
DJB,
Your “…Shoot the foot. Cut the nose. Spite the face.” is a keeper!
Idol ka, Manong :)
“years later our airforce has no fighters to speak of! hey hey Fidel, where did the BCDA money for AFP modernization go?” – blackshama
Angelo Reyes, during his first-ever confirmation hearing, already answered that. He said, “You cannot see it, but it’s there”.
Parang LPG.
Gents,
Seriously looking at this latest episode:
http://midfield.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/china-strongly-protests-rushed-rp-baselines-bill/
What we have here now is the Arroyo regime confronting both China and the United States with the Daniel Smith custody wrangle still simmering!
A former undersecretary of foreign affairs told me just over the weekend that “what Congress has done here is an attempt to revise the Philippines’s territorial domain beyond the coverage of long existing international treaty limits.”
Those are the very limits provided in the Treaty of Versailles at the turn of the previous millennium and cannot be done unilaterally by any nation,” my source said.
The way to skewer China is to attack their human rights record and demand democracy for a fifth of Humanity. That gerontocracy of aging Maoists with their young bucko apparatchiks are running the biggest dictatorship of corruption and totalitarianism in history.
Miriam is right about that!
treaty of versailles was after world war I, baka treaty of paris.
I stnd corrected KP. Thanks
kung ano man ang ibig sabihin nito . Eto ang nasa treaty of paris.
ok Ding.
Pero magkaiba kami ni Karl Popper(KP) aka Primer .
you can call me KG.
Claiming the Exclusive Economic Zone ( 200 miles from the shores)and joining the club with UNCLOS can be the best and safest strategy for this country. Instead of dealing with China directly, UN can become the third party or a source of a third party in the event of future disputes.
JL, natapos pala nila ang papers? ang bilis ah
saw the comments here. very funny, hehehe. and yes, anthony, that’s the funny thing here. upon closer analysis, China got not just a hand and a foot but the entire body, that is spratlys. still, they’re not satisfied. maybe they want the entire country declared as chinese state.
hi bencard,
you’re right. the spirit, they say, is willing, but the body is weak. i’m pretty old already at 38 years old. but i can still, well, salute the flag many times…even 12 times, hehehe!
wala naman tayong magagawa pag me invasion na mga kaibigan nating Intsik eh. guerilla warfare itong umaatikabo.
by the way, merong statement si lauro baja. mukhang nasa English yung transcript, di naka Mandarin. Siguro kailangang i-translate para maintindihan ng CCP.
DJB
Let’s skewer China by putting up a 200 foot statue of the Goddess of Democracy on the RIGHT of the Lefty Bantayog ng mga Bayani. :-)
Leytenian,
Well it was actually just a choice of either including or excluding the KIG and/or Scarborough Shoal within the baseline.
The harder part is the scientific papers needed to advance our claim for an extended continental shelf.
I thought it had a deadline of May 13 but someone else pegged a day earlier.
At any rate, I just hope we make it in time.