House probe into China laser incident in WPS pushed

This handout photo taken on February 6, 2023 and released by the Philippine Coast Guard on February 13 shows a Chinese Coast Guard vessel shining a “military grade laser light” at a Philippine Coast Guard boat nearly 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. (AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD)

MANILA Philippines – The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday filed a resolution strongly condemning the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) act of aiming a laser beam at the Philippine Coast Guard vessel in the West Philippine Sea and asked the committee on foreign affairs to conduct an investigation.

House Resolution No. 781 was filed by Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel.

The resolution seeks to have the House Committee on Foreign Affairs investigate the said incident in aid of legislation after no clear agreement on how to address the issue even after  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned and met with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian on Tuesday.

Likewise, the resolution also called for the Marcos administration to issue “stronger countermeasures” and to “assert the sovereign rights of the Philippines over the Ayungin Shoal” and “demand the pullout of Chinese military assets” in the West Philippine Sea. 

The resolution has also mentioned China’s blatant disregard for the stipulations in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the landmark Hague ruling in 2016, which repudiated China’s claim over waters in some parts of the West Philippine Sea via its so-called, “nine-dash line.”

A China Coast Guard (CCG) ship with the bow number 5205 directed a military-grade laser on the PCG vessel BRP Malapascua, which was en route to the Ayungin Shoal for a resupply mission.

Despite being within the country’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Wang Wenbin, blamed and accused the PCG of  straying into Chinese waters. (Vance Chan, INQUIRER.net trainee)

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