Transparency strategy in WPS will continue despite deescalation deal with China, says PCG's Tarriela

The Philippine government will continue its transparency strategy which exposes aggressive Chinese actions in West Philippine Sea (WPS) despite an agreement between Manila and Beijing last month to deescalate tensions in the resource-rich waters, a senior Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said Tuesday.

PCG spokesman for WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said the Philippine policy has not changed and will continue, adding that it will resume the embedment of Filipino journalists in patrols in the WPS.

“Let me again emphasize that our transparency initiative remains to be the same, how aggressive we are, how  we started  until now it remains to be the same,” Tarriela said at the Stratbase-ADR Institute forum in Makati City.  

He said there is no existing “mechanism or a detailed guidance” from the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) sent to the PCG to calibrate its policy or tone down its statements following the Shanghai meeting last month.

“Nothing has changed,” said Tarriela.

A vital trading and shipping lane, the South China Sea, dotted with rocks, shoals and reefs where rich oil and mineral deposits were found, are claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. Parts of the waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone have been renamed West Philippine Sea by the Philippine government.

“We still choose to publicize the aggressive actions of China just like we did last weekend when the Chinese coast guard did a dangerous maneuver, provocative behavior, crossing the bow of the Philippine coast guard. Those videos and photos were still released,” Tarriela said.

In that incident, Tarriela said the Chinese coast guard (CCG) vessels carried out “dangerous and blocking maneuvers at sea against BRP Teresa Magbanua four times, with the CCG vessels crossing the bow of the PCG vessel twice.”

The PCG also said its ship was shadowed by four CCG vessels on more than 40 occasions.

At a January 17 meeting in Shanghai, the Philippines and China agreed to deescalate tensions in the South China Sea and vowed to improve existing maritime communication mechanisms to prevent incidents and any miscalculations in the disputed waters that could cause a much bigger conflict.

During the talks, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Theresa Lazaro and Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Nong Rong "had frank and productive discussions to deescalate the situation,” as both sides “agreed to calmly deal with incidents, if any, through diplomacy," a Department of Foreign Affairs statement said last month.

Hostilities in the South China Sea have sparked fears of a major conflict that could draw in the United States, Manila’s longtime treaty ally.

Washington said that it stands by its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty commitments with the Philippines if Filipinos, including its public vessels, come under an armed attack in the disputed waters.

China’s vast territorial claims in the waters have sparked tensions and violent confrontations with smaller claimants, like the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Philippines largely won a landmark case against China’s massive claim in the South China Sea before an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, but Beijing refused to participate in the arbitration process and is not recognizing the ruling.

“The toning down a bit (of) our transparency (policy), it has never happened yet. We haven’t received anything yet that would, you know, say that we are deescalating because of the agreed terms of the Jan 17 meeting,” Tarriela said, citing the positive gains of Manila’s transparency strategy to expose Chinese aggression in WPS.

“I don’t agree with the term ‘both countries would deescalate’ because we’re not escalating the tensions, we are just exercising our sovereign rights,” he said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News