MANILA, Philippines — The country’s local weather bureau has adopted the name “West Philippine Sea” to refer to the South China Sea in its weather advisories, following the recent move of the government of President Benigno Aquino III amid rising tensions in the disputed islands located in those waters.
Over the weekend, Malacañang used the West Philippine Sea to refer to the South China Sea to assert its rights over part of the Spratlys, a territory wholly or partly claimed by its neighbors in the region, including China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
“Please be informed that from now on, we will use West Philippine Sea to refer to what we used to call as South China Sea,” said Graciano Yumul, supervising science undersecretary for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration(PAGASA). “The body of water east of the Philippines (Pacific side) will still be called the Philippine Sea as per published in scientific documents.”
Yumul explained that PAGASA took the initiative to adopt the name to avoid public confusion over references to the waters that bound the archipelago to the west.
“Recently, the government has been using the name, especially with the Spratlys issue. So to avoid confusion, we will also use that name,” Yumul said.
On Saturday, Malacañang used “West Philippine Sea” for the first time in a statement reacting to China’s warning on Thursday, issued through Ambassador Liu Jianchao, to rival claimants to the disputed Spratlys island group to stop searching for oil in the contested region without permission from China.
“The Republic of the Philippines has stated its position on the various territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea. We are committed to dialog with other claimants,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told a news briefing over the weekend.
“We call on all parties to refrain from inflammatory statements that would make it more difficult to reach a mutually agreeable solution,” he said.
In the past two weeks, the Philippines has publicly accused Chinese forces of being behind seven confrontations with Filipinos in the Spratlys in less than four months.
However, Liu said the reported incidents were mere “rumors” or exaggeration, even as he asserted China’s claim to the reputedly oil-rich Spratlys island chain.
The Palace took its its cue from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which has been using “West Philippine Sea” in the series of letters and notes verbales protesting China’s incursions into areas that the DFA claims were well within Philippine territory.
The DFA earlier explained that using “West Philippine Sea” to refer to the waters where the disputed territories lie was “in keeping with our tradition and history as well as reflective of its proper geographic location.”
The same waters “have long been called Dagat Luzon, or Luzon Sea by our fisherfolk and the rest of our people, and referred to as such in published maps since time immemorial after the major Philippine island of Luzon,” DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya explained earlier.
“On the other hand, South China Sea in Chinese is simply South Sea, while for the Vietnamese it is East Sea,” he said.