Philippines to China: Remove floating platform in Bajo de Masinloc

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines on Wednesday, June 10, urged China to remove a “floating platform” that security officials believe is conducting maritime scientific research inside Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc).

Deputy Assistant Secretary Rogelio Villanueva Jr. made the call during a press conference of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) where the Philippine Coast Guard also presented
a timeline of the Philippines’ monitoring of structures inside Bajo de Masinloc.

“We therefore urge China to withdraw and remove the platform structures from Bajo de Masinloc, cease similar actions that violate Philippine sovereignty and sovereign rights in and within the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc, and comply with its obligations under international law, particularly UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea] and the 2016 award in the South China Sea arbitration,” Villanueva said.

Manila had earlier announced that it confirmed the presence of a floating structure — which it has since called a “floating platform” inside the waters or lagoon of Bajo de Masinloc, a feature that’s just over 120 nautical miles or over 220 kilometers off the coast of Zambales.

China has controlled access to the shoal since 2012 or in the aftermath of a standoff between Manila and Beijing. For the Philippines, it has meant being on the receiving end of harassment of Chinese vessels and aircraft during sea and air maritime patrols close to the shoal. For fishermen, it’s meant the risk of harassment from much larger Chinese ships when they try to fish in the abundant waters close to and around Bajo de Masinloc.

Manila claims sovereignty over the feature, and sovereign rights over the waters surrounding it, since it is within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

The NTF-WPS earlier said the DFA had filed several demarches and a protest against China over the structures. Villanueva declined to go into detail about these protests, or to divulge how China has responded thus far.

A spokesperson for its embassy in Manila in a statement on June 9, repeated the usual arguments from Beijing — that the 2016 Arbitral Award, which deemed their supposed historical lacking basis, was “illegal,” and that China would “continue to firmly uphold its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.”

Scientific research?

The Philippines has been conducting daily maritime domain awareness monitoring through the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to monitor the platform inside the shoal. Several of those maritime domain awareness flights by the Philippines in late May were met by harassment by Chinese helicopters and a fighter jet.

“And until now, as we speak, there are still two Chinese research vessels that we are still monitoring inside Bajo de Masinloc. So we can also say that they are probably conducting illegal scientific research in Bajo de Masinloc and that platform is also being used by those marine scientists,” said Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the PCG for the West Philippine Sea. The two research vessels were also close to the entrance of the shoal as early as May 21.

The Philippines had first visual confirmation of the structure on May 25 through satellite imagery. By May 26, through a maritime domain awareness flight by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippines obtained a clearer photo of the structure, which had one person on board.

The platform, estimated to measure roughly 6 to 7 meters long, is surrounded by fenders — which would protect it from damage should it be brought closer or towed by larger ships. Security officials said it could be anchored as it floats or is supported by metal stilts whenever it was stationary.

By May 29, the two research vessels entered the shoal itself. On May 30, an MDA flight monitored six personnel aboard the floating platform and a “newly installed” antenna near the entrance of the shoal.

The Philippines has since monitored many different floating objects in or around the shoal, including buoys and an “unidentified floating object.”

‘Inconsistent with international law’

The presence of the platform, said Villanueva, “is not only a violation of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Philippines, but is also inconsistent with international law,” referring to UNCLOS and the 2016 Arbitral Award which Beijing does not recognize.

National Maritime Council spokesperson Undersecretary Alexander Lopez said the government will do “everything it can based on the national law, based on diplomacy, based on our national policy” even as he conceded that “the nightmare of Mischief Reef is still there.”

Mischief Reef, which Manila officially calls Panganiban Reef, is a feature in the West Philippine Sea that has since turned into a Chinese military base built on an artificial island. When Manila first protested Chinese development on the reef in 1995, Beijing claimed it was merely a fisherman’s wharf that they were constructing.

China’s development of the reef led to the Philippines’ deployment of the BRP Sierra Madre in nearby Ayungin (Second Thomas Shoal) in 1999. – Rappler.com