Meeting on Spratlys turns ugly

Philippine officials have banned a senior Chinese diplomat from meetings for alleged rude behavior, in the latest fallout from a feud over the potentially oil-rich Spratlys group of islands, Filipino officials said Tuesday.

Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Chinese Embassy First Secretary Li Yongsheng, who heads the mission’s political section, raised his voice at a Filipino official last month while discussing Philippine allegations of Chinese intrusions in Manila-claimed areas of the Spratlys.

A memorandum from the DFA’s Asian and Pacific Affairs office said that Li exhibited “conduct unbecoming of a diplomat” and that his embassy had been informed he would not be allowed to attend future meetings at the department.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario had been informed about the incident, according to the memo, which was seen by The Associated Press.

The memorandum did not provide details of what happened at the meeting, but at least three senior Filipino diplomats said Li raised his voice in an offensive manner during a discussion of Manila’s claims that Chinese forces had intruded into Philippine territorial waters in and near the Spratlys.

The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to talk to reporters.

Sought for comment, Raul Hernandez, the DFA’s new spokesperson, quoted Foreign Secretary Del Rosario as saying, “The story has no constructive value and, as such, we will not comment.”

For his part, Ethan Y. Sun, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Makati City, said in a text message: “You will get feedback as soon as I get it.”

The Spratlys, a chain of barren, largely uninhabited islands, reefs and banks in the South China Sea (called West Philippine Sea by Filipinos), are claimed in their entirety by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. They are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas and straddle a busy sea lane.

Manila has accused Chinese vessels of intruding at least nine times into Philippine waters in recent months, while Vietnam said Chinese vessels had hindered its oil exploration surveys in an area 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) off its central coast that it claims as its economic exclusive zone.

China said it had sovereign rights over the entire South China Sea.

The reported intrusions have set off anti-China protests.

About a dozen protesters burned two Chinese flags near the US Embassy in Manila on Monday. In Vietnam, dozens of people held protests for a fifth straight week in Hanoi, waving Vietnamese flags and chanting anti-Chinese slogans.

Plane buzzes fishermen

In the latest reported foreign intrusion into Philippine-claimed waters, an unidentified fighter plane buzzed just six meters (20 feet) over the antenna of a boat carrying Filipino fishermen near the Spratlys, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Tuesday.

The fishermen reported the jet flew low over their boat early last month off the Investigator Northeast Shoal, said Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama.

“They were unable to identify the jet; they just said it was noisy and it made them nervous,” Pama said, adding: “Definitely it was not ours.”

It was the second report of foreign aircraft activity in Philippine-claimed areas of the South China Sea this year.

In May, two Philippine Air Force turboprop planes on patrol near the Spratlys reported two unidentified jets streaking high above them.

DFA spokesperson Hernandez declined to comment on the latest incident, telling Agence France Presse he had yet to see the formal report.

More binding agreement

Meanwhile, security and diplomatic analysts said Tuesday that China and its Southeast Asian neighbors must adopt a more binding legal agreement on how to behave in the disputed South China Sea to prevent conflict.

While the experts speaking at an international conference in Manila did not expect current tensions to lead to conflict, they said there could be accidents because of increased activity by claimants to assert jurisdiction over the Spratlys.

“The situation is urgent now because if left unaddressed, it could lead to skirmishes in the sea,” Carlyle Thayer of Australia’s University of New South Wales told Reuters.

China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) have to agree on a rules-based regime with obligation and enforcement mechanisms, and include non-claimant states in the treaty, Thayer said.

“We need a code on how countries, including the United States, Australia and Japan, should behave in the Southeast Asian states,” he added. Jerry E. Esplanada; AP; AFP; Reuters