A Philippine lawmaker yesterday planted the nation’s flag on a contested function within the South China Sea, in a “peaceable however agency act of defiance towards China’s persevering with aggression” within the space.
Accompanied by a group of volunteers, Rep. Dadah Kiram Ismula of the activist Atin Ito Coalition traveled in a rubber dinghy from Thitu (Pag-asa) Island, the most important occupied Philippine function within the South China Sea, to Sandy Cay, the place she planted the flag early yesterday, the group stated in a press release.
“Regardless of the heavy Chinese language presence within the space, the group reached Pag-asa Cay 2 and raised the flag, reporting that they slipped previous a number of Chinese language vessels monitoring close by waters,” it acknowledged, utilizing Manila’s identify for the uninhabited sandbar.
“Our message is obvious,” the assertion quoted Ismula as saying. “The West Philippine Sea is ours. No quantity of intimidation can erase that reality.”
The group launched a video of the mission to Sandy Cay, which lies round three kilometers from Thitu Island, effectively inside the Philippines’ unique financial zone (EEZ). “West Philippine Sea” is the Philippines’ official time period for its claimed areas of the South China Sea, which China claims below its maximalist “nine-dash line.”
Fashioned in 2023, the Atin Ito Coalition – the phrase means “It Is Ours” in Tagalog – is a civilian-led coalition that has performed a variety of advocacy missions to say Philippine sovereignty over its portion of the South China Sea.
The go to to Sandy Cay was the attention-grabbing spotlight of the group’s fourth mission within the area, which runs from April 30 to Might 5. Like the sooner missions, this additionally included the supply of gasoline, meals, and medicines, and different types of help to Philippine-occupied options, together with Thitu Island.
After the mission to Sandy Cay, Ismula additionally rode a jet ski via the waters off the island, the coalition stated in a separate assertion, describing it as a “symbolic motion” to say the nation’s “sovereign rights and territorial integrity.”
The usage of a jet ski was a wry reference to a remark by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who stated through the 2016 presidential marketing campaign that he would personally journey a jet ski to a disputed shoal and plant the Philippine flag there. As soon as in workplace, Duterte took a controversially conciliatory line on maritime disputes with China, downplaying Chinese language incursions into the Philippines’ EEZ within the hope of securing Chinese language infrastructure financing.
“As a result of a Mindanaoan promised and misled [the voters that he would] take a jet-ski journey within the West Philippine Sea, one other Mindanaoan and a lady in the present day stood up to do that for our nation,” stated Ismula, who’s a member of the progressive Akbayan social gathering.
In response to a report by Reuters, the Atin Ito operation got here after Manila stated final week that it “had dispatched its coast guard to Sandy Cay after state media stories confirmed Chinese language coast guard personnel arriving on Sandy Cay.” Certainly one of them reportedly planted China’s flag on the atoll on April 27.
Sandy Cay was the location of an analogous tit-for-tat incident in April of final 12 months. On that event, the Philippine army unfurled the nationwide flag on three contested options round Thitu Island, together with Sandy Cay, days after China unfurled its personal flag on one of many options.
This was simply one of many quite a few stand-offs which have taken place over the previous few years, through which the 2 sides have confronted one another over disputed shoals and islands. A few of these have escalated into confrontations which have seen Philippine vessels rammed and doused with high-pressure water cannons.
Beijing, which refers to Sandy Cay as Tiexian Reef, responded to the newest Atin Ito mission in a predictable trend, claiming the motion was “unlawful,” in keeping with a report in Chinese language state media.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which helped present protected passage for the Atin Ito mission, recommended the coalition for its profitable flag-planting operation. One spokesperson described it as “a profound testomony to the indomitable spirit of the Filipino individuals,” the Philippine Information Company reported.
“It reinforces the reality that the WPS isn’t just a strategic maritime space, however an integral a part of our nationwide heritage and livelihood,” the spokesperson stated.f
