Conclusion
DEFENSE Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana was the first to broach China’s plan in Benham Rise. The Benham Rise is a 13-million-hectare undersea region located east of Luzon, off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora.
Last year the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Benham Rise is ideal for implementing long-line fishing, a method that uses multiple hooks and is not widely practiced yet in the country. Compared to other fishing grounds, fishes caught in Benham Rise are bigger, the DA said, citing data from several years of research on the area.
In a forum on security-threat assessment at the National Defense College of the Philippines, Lorenzana said he received a report that a Chinese survey ship could be searching for potential spots to place its submarines at Benham Rise.
Lorenzana added the Department of National Defense (DND) did not know the reason for the Chinese survey. However, Lorenzana said he has ordered the Philippine Navy “to drive them [Chinese service ship] away and ilayo sila [bring them far] from the eastern side of the Philippines.”
A Chinese survey ship also figured in an accident in Benham Rise last year and it unloaded a patient to Surigao City, he added.
That’s why we know they’re there, Lorenzana said, adding they also have satellite photos of Chinese ships in Benham Rise.
Apologetic tendencies
HAVING studied submarine warfare at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, Roilo Golez said he is worried the Chinese, which has a tendency to be apologetic, would “still do what they want to do in the end”.
During a forum with reporters at the Manila Hotel last week, the former National Security Adviser to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said China’s Island Chains Strategy is a “creeping invasion.”
He said he is “worried now, if they can have foothold in Benham Rise, then they will be able to break out of the first island chain and project their presence outside, east of the Philippines, and that would become a security threat not only to us but a security threat to the other powers in the area, like the 7th Fleet, the United States and Japan.”
He is sure the latter countries are monitoring what is happening in Benham Rise.
Respect, but
IN a news conference on March 15, Chinese Foreign Minister Hua Chunying said they respect the Philippines’s rights over Benham Rise.
“But the basic principle of international law says that the [exclusive economic zone] and the continental shelf do not equate with territories, and a littoral state’s exercise of rights over the continental shelf should not hamper such rights as freedom of navigation enjoyed by other countries under international law,” Hua added.
This view seems to be shared by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.
In a recent forum, Carpio said, “China and other countries are also allowed to conduct depth soundings for navigational purposes because there is freedom of navigation in the ECS [Extended Continental Shelf]. If the Chinese vessels were looking for submarine passages and parking space, that would be part of freedom of navigation,” Carpio said. “And the Philippines has no reason to complain.”
Philippines owed
JAY Batongbacal said if it is proven that China has conducted underwater surveys, “China owes the Philippines an explanation to describe exactly what its vessels were doing since they were clearly not merely navigating for the purpose of getting from place to place.”
“If it is found that China was undertaking marine scientific research, it is under an obligation to share all of its findings, information, and access to samples, data and research results with the Philippines and internationally,” said Batongbacal, director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea. “Refusal to do so entitles the Philippines to demand that China cease and desist from again conducting any such activities in the future, unless and until it is with the Philippines’s prior knowledge, consent, and participation.”
Batongbacal added that if China is found to be “undertaking resource exploration and/or exploitation activities, it is under an obligation to respect and comply with the laws and regulations of the Philippines pertaining to such resources.”
“The Philippines is entitled to demand that China cease and desist from such activities in the future, as such activities can only be undertaken by Philippine citizens and corporations duly authorized by the Philippine government,” he said.
Sinister intention
GOLEZ has likened China forays in Benham Rise “to somebody entering our yard, and saying, ‘I’m just going through, excuse me’.”
“That’s not passing through—they stand by,” Golez said. “And the intention can be a very sinister intention.”
He said that’s exactly what the Chinese did in Mischief Reef in 1994 and in 1995, “when they said the shelters were only temporary”. “And we know what happened in Mischief [Panganiban] Reef.”
At the Scarborough Shoal (Panatag), tensions arose when the Philippine Navy apprehended eight mainland Chinese fishing vessels in 2012. Following a standoff, both sides agreed to leave Panatag, following a third-party intervention. The Philippine Navy withdrew but the Chinese remained, until now.
China this week said it will begin preparatory work this year for an environmental monitoring station on Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the South China Sea.
“China will install an environmental monitoring station [a.k.a. radar station] on Scarborough Shoal,” according to Carpio. “A radar station on Scarborough Shoal will immediately complete China’s radar coverage of the entire South China Sea. China can then impose an Adiz [air defense identification zone] in the South China Sea.”
Through an Adiz, China, the most weaponized nation among claimants to the disputed waters, may utilize missile silos it had earlier built over its bases on South China Sea islands.