Manila: Filipinos based in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States will march in front of the Chinese Embassy on July 24 to protest against China’s role in the ongoing territorial dispute.
The Philippines’ government has denied, however, that it has a role in it.
Several private groups comprising former government officials, scheduled holding simultaneous protests in front of Chinese embassies across the world to garner attention and sympathy against China’s flexing of marine muscle in the South China Sea which the Philippines claims as its own.
“We would like to stress that this protest rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Makati City, the financial district on July 24 is going to be the start of something we intend to become bigger – not only in the Philippines, but worldwide,” said Roilo Golez, former national security adviser during the time of ex-President Gloria Arroyo.
The protest is against the incursions of Chinese vessels in shoals and reefs that are within the Philippine 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, said Golez, now a congressman.
“It’s a very good opportunity for Filipinos to unite for a good cause, because we are talking about flag and country,” said Rafael Alunan, former interior secretary during the time of former president Fidel Ramos; and former tourism secretary during the time of ex- president Corazon Aquino.
“We are against China’s lawless policy of intrusion, occupation, theft of natural resources, and intimidation in our Exclusive Economic Zone,” said Alunan, adding this has been the overarching theme of debates and discussions on Facebook and Twitter amongst Filipinos worldwide.
In a sense, China has united all Filipinos, Alunan also said.
Noting the importance of the new international group of Filipinos, Rogelio Santos of the US Pinoys for Good Governance, said, “Filipinos cannot ask the world to follow [its cause] if we ourselves do not lead [in protests against China].”
At the same time, 25 Filipino artists have started to collaborate to make a song about China’s misdeeds in the South China Sea, “to send the message to China and the world,” said singer actress Roxanne Barcelo.
“We want China to follow the international law that says the Philippines owns 200 nautical miles within our shores,” said Barcelo.
They all called for peaceful resolution of overlapping claims in the South China Sea. They also said they wanted to reach out to China.
The group is also composed of former soldiers, and members of academic, entertainment, and religious sectors.
Explaining that the Philippine government has nothing to do with global action versus China on July 24, Assistant Foreign Affairs Secretary Raul Hernandez, “Filipinos have all the right to express and voice out in a peaceful manner their positions and sentiments on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.”
“These [protest actions] are not sanctioned by the government, but being in a democracy, people have a right to voice out their position on different issues,” Hernandez said.
Giving an update on the Philippine government’s elevation of its complaint against China before the United Nations, Hernandez said: “The arbitrary tribunal will proceed with the case based upon its rules and merits of this case, so other activities [such as the international protest rallies versus China] will not affect our case [before the UN].”
Earlier, during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Brunei, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the Philippines is responsible for the deterioration of Chinese-Philippines relations.
At the time, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario criticised China’s “excessive claim as violative of international law of indisputable sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea through its [China’s] 9-dash claim”.
China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim the whole of the South China Sea based on their respective historical rights on the said area.
Brunei, Malaysia, and Philippines claim some parts of the Spratly Archipelago off the South China Sea, based on the provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that countries have 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones starting from their shores.
