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BEIJING
has protested the bill establishing the country’s
territorial baselines to include the disputed Spratlys,
the reason why it has been shelved in the House of
Representatives, a legislator who authored the measure
revealed Wednesday.
Lakas
Rep. Antonio Cuenco of Cebu, in a news forum in Quezon
City, on Wednesday distributed copies of Beijing’s note
verbale to the Philippine Embassy in Beijing in December
2007, right after the lower chamber passed on second
reading House Bill 3216, or An Act Defining the
Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippine Archipelago,
Amending for the Purpose Republic Act 3046, as Amended
by Republic Act 5446.
The bill
has been scheduled for third reading since December 2007
and until now it has not been deliberated upon by
legislators.
Party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna had
questioned the House leadership for shelving the bill
even as he claimed that the House is being pressured by
the Department of Foreign Affairs which has been
opposing the measure.
The
bill, that was scheduled to be discussed by the House in
plenary session on Tuesday, was reportedly recommitted
to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs headed by
Cuenco.
The note
verbale, Cuenco said, put the legislators in a quandary
as they do not want to damage the country’s relation
with China.
Cuenco
said the bill, which includes the Kalayaan Group of
Islands and Scarborough Shoal in the country’s
baseline, was described as “very forceful and
aggressive,” by China.
The note
verbale said that “China is shocked by and gravely
concerned with this negative development.”
“China
has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha islands
including Scarborough Shoal and its adjacent waters. For
the sake of maintaining stability in the South China Sea
(SCS) and the China-Philippines friendship, the leaders
of our two countries have exchanged views for many times
and reached important consensus on maintaining peace and
stability in SCS through joint efforts and committing
both sides to refraining from any action that would lead
to complication and escalation of the situation,” it
said.
The note
verbale added that by signing the Declaration of the
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, China and all
member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations all committed to exercise self-restraint, to
refrain from taking actions that would have negative
impact on peace and instability of the region and to
deal with disputes by constructive means.
“On the
basis of the above-mentioned consensus and with the
spirit of the DOC, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam
reached a tripartite agreement on joint venture in the
SCS. As of now, the tripartite cooperation has achieved
substantive progress. This is historical breakthrough in
handling and solving the SCS issue,” it said.
It said
that if the Philippines “forcefully puts Scarborough
Shoal and some other Nansha reefs and islands inside its
baseline territorial sea, it will not only be conducive
to the stability in the SCS, but also disturb
China-Philippine cooperation in the area, exerting
negative impact on the healthy development of our
bilateral relations.”
Beijing
said that the move taken by the House does not conform
to the common interest of the two countries. “Nor does
it serve the interest of the Philippines. Such a
unilateral action will neither strengthen the legal
position of the Philippine side, nor will it be
recognized and accepted by other parties and the
international community,” it added.
Meanwhile, Cuenco said he is scheduled to call for a
party caucus on Wednesday to settle the issue before
bringing it to the House in plenary session. |
