Gov't effort to protect West Philippine Sea is weak —expert

An expert cited Wednesday the sluggish push by the Philippine government to protect its claims over the West Philippines Sea (WPS), while China increases the presence of its navy and militia vessels in the territory.

In a forum by the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies, Simulatiry co-founder and CEO of Liz Derr said more WPS features will be taken by other countries if this weak approach continues.

“Unfortunately, the Philippines is weak. We've seen and documented what other claimants have been doing to shore up their claims,” she said.

“We've seen how much weaker the Philippines is in protecting [its] territory, compared to the other claimants. If this weakness continues, we will surely see more features being occupied by other countries,” she pointed out.

Simularity is an AI software company that analyzes multispectral and SAR satellite imagery and serves federal governments, GIS consulting companies, and international defense and intelligence agencies.

According to Derr, Vietnam has protected its sovereign rights over its own EEZ by building 29 outposts in Spratly Islands (not all within Philippine EEZ).

But the Philippines has built only 11 outposts in Spratly Islands to protect its sovereign rights over its own EEZ.

Compared to China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, and Vietnam, Derr said the Philippines is weaker in terms of authority  when facing imminent danger to coast guard assets and people’s lives, managing vessels attempting to flee or resist arrest, and defending sovereignty or sovereign rights.

Derr said making other surrender the artificial islands they built in the Philippine EEZ is unlikely to happen.  She recommended for the Philippines to focus its efforts on making sure no more are taken.

According to Derr, the following are some of the unoccupied features in the Philippine EEZ that are “sitting there for the taking:”

• Hopps Reef
• Sabina Shoal
• Southern Banks
• Hardy Reef
• Boxall Reef
• Iriquois Reef
• Hopkins Reef
• Third Thomas Shoal
• Jackson Atoll
• Livock Reef
• Alicia Annie Reef
• Empire Reef
• Jones Reef
• Higgens Reef
• Holiday Reef
• Hallet Reef
• Pensylvanie Sout Reef
• McKennan Reef
• Edmund Reef
• Loveless Reef
• Director Reef
• Half Moon Shoal
• Bombay Shoal
• NOrth Investigator Shoal
• Royal Captain Shoal
• Sabina Shoal
• Seahorse Shoal

Also, Derr said the Philippine EEZ will be protected if the country occupies the unoccupied Spratly features with research into prioritization of which to occupy and into what level of occupation.

For Derr, this will stop foreign countries from occupying more Spratly features and building more destructive artificial islands and will protect fisherfolk and their right to fishing.

Intrusion into occupied features will be considered an act of war and other countries with relationship with the Philippines will protect it if it is attacked, she added.

“China is trying to gray zone their territorial expansion and have scrupulously avoided outright military conflict in the South China Sea. They do not want a war,” she added.

On March 7, around 220 vessels were spotted in the Julian Felipe Reef in the West Philippine Sea, located at 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Palawan Island.

Based on the latest report of National Task Force WPS released Tuesday, 240 Chinese militia vessels were scattered in the territorial waters off Kalayaan in Palawan and in the Philippines EEZ.

Aside from these, six vessels of the Chinese navy, including at least three warships, have been spotted in the West Philippine Sea.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has been demanding for the immediate removal of the Chinese vessels near Julian Felipe Reef.

The Chinese Embassy said that the vessels are only “seeking shelter” near the reef, which they claimed is part of China’s Nansha Islands or Spratlys in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest for the presence of Chinese vessels in Julian Felipe Reef. —LBG, GMA News