Chinese ambassador says presence of Chinese ships near Pagasa Island not alarming

October 5, 2017

Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said the presence of Chinese vessels near the sandbars of Pagasa Island is not alarming.

“Let me say this, according to the DOC (Declaration of Conduct) Article Five that China and Asean, 10 countries agreed in the DOC that no reclamation or no rehabilitation or habitation of the uninhabited maritime features and China. I think China, both China and the Philippines would adhere strictly to Article Five of DOC,” Zhao told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo Thursday.

“You may see some presence of Chinese ships or presence Filipino ships but that’s a part, we say, that (of overlapping or disputed area. So it’s quite natural for you to see some of the boats, fishing boats to be there. They are carrying their daily fishing. You don’t have to be alarmed and both Chinese and the Filipino side have a clear understanding of what they are doing,” he added.

It can be recalled that Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano raised a concern about the continuing tension because of the monitored presence of Chinese vessels near the sandbars of Pagasa Island last month.

In a separate interview with reporters, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza also supported the statement of the Chinese ambassador saying the presence of the vessels in the area is “natural”.

“It’s natural like the ambassador said. You can see a lot of ships there, (but) it doesn’t mean that the ships are doing illegal things or harassing other people but they are just there to also to maybe to pursue their missions according to the claims of the Chinese,” he said.

“So we are managing the conflict there. There is no violent conflict between us. We are managing it. We are following the DOC. This is the Code of Conduct of all claimants in the South China Sea and I think all the Asean claimants are signatories to this and everybody is observing it. So sightings of ships once in a while is not uncommon,” he added.

Zhao also emphasized that China and Philippines agreed to have a peaceful solution on territorial disputes.

“Let me first (be) very clear that China is committed to peaceful solution to the disputes that we have in the South China Sea. As far as military to military relations is concerned, we are enhancing our respective relations with all the claimant states including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and we're even exporting submarines missiles to some of the claimant states,” he said.

“It demonstrates that China has no intention at all to settle it by force, otherwise we would not have given or sold weapons to claimant states. We are not afraid because our intention is sincere and our belief the intention of the Philippines and other claimant states is also sincere in terms of seeking a peaceful solution to the disputes we have,” he added. Robina Asido/DMS