the philippines' illegally detained ships evacuated the xianbin reef. experts: the philippines' fantasy of trying to force the issue has been shattered.
2024-09-15
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according to the wechat official account of the china coast guard, on september 14, the philippine ship 9701 withdrew from the chinese xianbin reef lagoon. liu dejun, a spokesperson for the china coast guard, said on the 15th that the philippine coast guard ship 9701 had illegally stayed at china's xianbin reef for nearly five months, seriously infringing on china's territorial sovereignty, seriously violating the declaration on the conduct of parties in the south china sea, and seriously undermining regional peace and stability. "we warn the philippines to stop inciting propaganda and hype and taking risks to infringe on rights. china has indisputable sovereignty over the nansha islands, including xianbin reef, and its surrounding waters. the china coast guard will continue to carry out rights protection and law enforcement activities in china's jurisdictional waters in accordance with the law, and resolutely safeguard the country's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests."
previously, the ship sought to stay in xianbin reef for a long time by anchoring, attempting to occupy chinese territorial waters. chen xiangmiao, director of the world naval research center of the china institute of south china sea studies, told the paper (www.thepaper.cn) that on this issue, "china has repeatedly expressed a clear and tough position. this has, to a certain extent, shattered the philippines' fantasy of continuing to exist and nagging."
according to reuters and singapore's lianhe zaobao, the chairman of the philippine national maritime commission, belsamin, claimed in a statement that "the ship was surrounded by a larger fleet during its deployment." however, belsamin also claimed that the ship returned to meet the medical needs of the crew and to repair the ship.
chen xiangmiao analyzed that the philippine ship no. 9701 had been anchored at xianbin reef for 150 days, and the ship's fuel and living supplies for the crew on board were no longer guaranteed. in addition, the ship itself also needed repairs. secondly, china expressed a very clear position, that is, to withdraw the ship and the crew, and restore xianbin reef to a state of no people and no facilities. "this has also, to a certain extent, shattered the philippines' fantasy of trying to continue to exist and stubbornly cling on."
according to the website of the chinese ministry of foreign affairs, on september 11, vice foreign minister chen xiaodong and philippine deputy foreign minister lazaro jointly held a meeting of heads of delegations of the china-philippines bilateral consultation mechanism (bcm) on the south china sea in beijing. the two sides exchanged views candidly and in-depth on maritime issues between china and the philippines, especially the xianbin reef issue. china reiterated its principled position on the xianbin reef issue and urged the philippines to immediately withdraw the relevant ships. the two sides agreed to continue to maintain communication through diplomatic channels such as the bcm.
lazaro posted on social media on september 12, "i reiterated the consistent position of the philippines and explored ways to ease regional tensions. we agreed to continue discussions on areas of cooperation, especially hotline mechanisms, coast guard cooperation, and marine science cooperation."
the paper has learned that nine rounds of china-philippines bcm meetings have been held, with the most recent meeting just two months ago. on july 2, china and the philippines jointly hosted the ninth meeting of the china-philippines bilateral consultation mechanism (bcm) on the south china sea in manila on the situation in the south china sea, especially the control of the situation in ren'ai reef. china has been communicating with the philippines through diplomatic channels on the situation in the south china sea. but after the consultations in july, the philippine government's attitude was erratic. the philippines first denied that it had reached a "gentleman's agreement" with china to control differences, and then took the lead on the 21st to reveal that it had reached an agreement with china on the supply of the "beached" warship "mount madre" in consultations at the beginning of the month. but only one day later, the philippines again refuted the content of the agreement, saying that china's "prior notification and on-site verification" was inaccurate, and said that the philippines would continue to safeguard its "maritime rights" and "jurisdiction."
in this regard, chen xiangmiao said, "the philippines clearly feels the pressure from china, so the philippine ministry of foreign affairs is trying to obtain china's compromise through negotiations. the (philippines') tough stance is unlikely to change. at the same time, it is also necessary to see that the opinions of the philippine ministry of foreign affairs are different from the statements of the military and the coast guard. the philippine military and police are now playing a major role and have a relatively tough attitude. as long as there is an opportunity, the philippine military and police will still take unilateral measures."
in addition, chen xiangmiao specifically pointed out that "the philippines has obviously made a mistake on the issue of xianbin reef, especially wrongly defining it as a 'low-tide elevation'. this is contrary to the facts." he emphasized that "the environmental protection report once again confirmed that xianbin reef is a marine feature that is exposed above the water at high tide."
on august 30, the "xianbin reef coral reef ecosystem survey report" was officially released to the public. the report shows that there are 6 sandbars on the reef flat of xianbin reef. the highest points of the 6 sandbars are all higher than the local average sea level. among them, the highest points of 3 sandbars are about 1.3 meters, 0.4 meters, and 1.0 meters higher than the local average high tide level. this discovery is consistent with my country's long-standing insistence that xianbin reef is a marine feature that emerges from the water at high tide. "the philippines can no longer deceive the international community." chen xiangmiao said.
thepaper.cn reporter yang wenqin
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