During the past days, Philippine and Chinese officials have made conflicting claims with regard the collision last Monday morning of coast guard vessels in the vicinity of the Escoda shoal, an area within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Officers of the Philippine Coast Guard assert that a PCG vessel was rammed by a Chinese Coast Guard ship, resulting in damages. China, on the other hand, insists that it was the PCG vessel that deliberately collided with its ship, despite calls to change course.

These marine collisions must be avoided at all costs, as these contribute to further heightening armed tensions in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippine and Chinese governments must immediately establish protocols to avoid mid-sea collisions of its coast guard vessels. These protocols can serve as interim agreements that do not prejudice conflicting claims until maritime disputes are settled through dialogue or arbitration. The Filipino people must not tolerate escalation of conflicts. They should not allow war-mongers to take advantage of these tensions to justify heightening US military intervention and presence in and around the country, which violate Philippine national sovereignty.

The Party and Filipino revolutionary forces maintain the view that China’s 9-dash line map represents excessive territorial claims over the South China Sea. These go directly against the July 2016 ruling of the International Arbitral Tribunal. It unequivocally states that, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), the Philippines has sovereign rights over its exclusive economic zone. As a signatory to the UNCLOS, China must recognize and comply with the IAT ruling. It must recognize the Philippines position and cease from carrying out overly aggressive actions, in order to pave the way for peaceful settlement of disputes.

The UNCLOS grants the Philippines rights over the marine, seabed and mineral resources within its EEZ, but also gives other countries the right to sail its vessels, including military vessels, in these waters. The PCG’s repeated statements, backed by the military and security establishment, that it is “defending Philippine territory” against the presence of Chinese coast guard ships in the Philippine EEZ are also an overclaim. Without the benefit of an impartial international inquiry, the US embassy immediately issued a statement condemning China. Mainstream media outlets in the Philippines incautiously echoed these statements.

The Filipino people must be circumspect and repudiate these exaggerated claims being made by the Marcos regime and its war-obsessed military officers. They must criticize and denounce the Marcos government for carrying out equally provocative actions in the West Philippine Sea, mostly prodded by the US, that aim to invite hostile reactions from China.