By Peter Hobson and Lewis Jackson
CANBERRA (Reuters) – China is placing ever better strain on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights within the South China Sea, Manila’s Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro stated on Tuesday after assembly his Australian counterpart in Canberra.
The fifth such assembly since August 2023 displays rising safety ties between the nations which have each voiced concern about Chinese exercise in areas of the busy waterway claimed by the Philippines and different Southeast Asian nations.
“What we see is an increasing demand by Beijing for us to concede our sovereign rights in the area,” Teodoro stated after assembly Australian counterpart Richard Marles, including that the Philippines was a “victim of Chinese aggression”.
The two nations signed a strategic partnership in September 2023 earlier than holding their first joint sea and air patrols within the South China Sea months later. This yr, the Philippines additionally joined battle video games in Australia for the primary time.
China and the Philippines have sparred repeatedly this yr over disputed areas of the South China Sea, together with the Scarborough Shoal, considered one of Asia’s most contested options.
On Sunday, China’s overseas ministry stated its authorities had outlined a baseline of “territorial waters” round Scarborough shoal in response to Philippine approval of two legal guidelines defining its sea lanes and maritime zones to bolster its territorial claims across the South China Sea.
Manila’s nationwide maritime council stated on Tuesday it objected to China’s institution of baselines and accused Beijing of violating its sovereignty.
“The establishment of the baselines by China around the shoal is a continuation of its 2012 illegal seizure of the shoal, which the Philippines continues to strongly oppose,” it stated in an announcement.
Since seizing the shoal in 2012 after a standoff with the Philippines, China has maintained a relentless deployment there of coastguard and fishing trawlers, some accused by Manila of being maritime militia.
China claims nearly all the South China Sea, a conduit for greater than $3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, together with components claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration within the Hague stated China’s claims had no authorized foundation, a ruling Beijing rejects.
Teodoro stated China’s claims and behavior had been opposite to worldwide regulation and defence offers with companions akin to Australia had been an essential solution to deter Chinese incursions.
“Although they (China) claim to act under the aegis of international law, everybody knows that what they’re doing is contrary to the tenets of international law,” he stated.
“The biggest evidence of this is that nobody has actually supported their actions or activities.”
In addition to nearer ties with nations akin to Australia and the United States, the Philippines additionally additionally plans to spend at the least $33 billion on new weapons, akin to superior fighter jets and mid-range missiles.
Marles stated Australia wished to work extra intently with the Philippine defence business and would ship an engineering evaluation group to the nation early subsequent yr.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson, Lewis Jackson and Alasdair Pal; Additional reporting by Mikhail Flores in Manila; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)
