South China Sea: Beijing urged to create deadline for Philippines to withdraw from shoal
Over the past year and a half, the waters surrounding Second Thomas Shoal – known as Renai Reef in Chinese and Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines – have been the stage for escalating tensions between Beijing and Manila.
The epicentre of the constant and increasingly fraught maritime stand-offs is a rusting World War II-era Philippine navy ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which is a strategic military outpost manned by a small contingent of Philippine troops.
In his remarks, Wu suggested China take a firmer stance once the deadline expired. He said Beijing might need to take decisive action to “prevent and block the Philippines from engaging in provocative and status quo-altering activities”, such as blocking maritime and airdropped resupplies to the reef, if Manila did not comply with the proposed time frame.
Beijing could impose a “temporary alert zone” in line with its Chinese coastguard law and new coastguard administrative procedures, outlining the area, duration, and management measures for the alert zone, according to Wu.
“After a certain period of blockade, the Philippine military personnel stationed at the reef will face a ‘survival crisis’. China could then, from a humanitarian perspective, establish a ‘special corridor’ allowing the Philippines to retrieve its military personnel stationed there,” he said.
Tensions flared between Beijing and Manila earlier this year when Beijing claimed it had reached an informal agreement permitting the Philippines to resupply the ship “out of humanitarian considerations”.
The arrangement requires Manila to provide advance notice of resupply missions, accept Chinese on-site supervision and exclude the transfer of construction materials.
The Philippine government has since refuted the existence of such an agreement, deepening their diplomatic rift.
Wu added that Beijing should also register its dissatisfaction with Manila through their bilateral and biannual diplomatic consultation mechanism established in 2017. The most recent talks under the mechanism were held this month.
“Through this active and operational dialogue framework, China must clearly convey to the Philippines that their actions, which extend beyond the agreed-upon consensus of ‘humanitarian resupply only’, are unacceptable,” he said, adding that Manila’s attempts to permanently fortify the shoal were also unacceptable to Beijing.
05:28
Should China be concerned about the latest Japan-Philippines security pact?
Furthermore, Wu said that staying transparent regarding their actions was also crucial, and Beijing could inform the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and other relevant parties through diplomatic channels beforehand.
“The aim is to clarify that China’s actions are intended to restore Second Thomas Shoal to its original state, promptly end the stand-off, prevent accidental escalation and secure China’s positive perception from public opinion and the international community,” he said.