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Palace: We have been protesting Chinese activity in West Philippine Sea

February 12, 2018 | 7:25pm

Palace: We have been protesting Chinese activity in West Philippine Sea

"We are not being soft on China, there are ongoing bilateral talks as far as contentious South China Sea issues are concerned," Roque said. Presidential Photo/Simeon Celis Jr., File

MANILA, Philippines — Despite perceived inaction in the face of Chinese militarization of reclaimed features in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines protested the military use of these islands in the contested waters, Malacañang said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference in Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government had protested not only China’s reclamation of features in the disputed waters but also their militarization.

Just last month, the Palace did not view the militarization of the islands as a breach of China’s good faith. “All I’m saying is that there is still no breach of the good faith obligation for as long as China has not embarked on new reclamations,” Roque said then.

Amid reports of China’s continuing militarization of the disputed area, Roque in the past week said that the Philippines would continue to rely on Beijing’s promise not to reclaim new artificial islands.

On Monday, however, Roque said that the government saw the installation of military structures as a cause for concern.

“I confirm, we have protested not only the building of the islands but also the alleged militarization of the islands and therefore contrary to claims of critics, we have long protested the military use of the artificial islands in the South China Sea,” Roque said.

He added that contentious issues such as Beijing’s installation of military equipment and structures on artificial islands in the area would be discussed during Tuesday’s Bilateral Consultation Mechanism of the South China Sea.

The meeting will be the second for the body which has been tasked to discuss issues of concern to either side and cooperation in the West Philippine Sea as well as identify mutually acceptable approaches to the issues, Roque said.

“So we are not being soft on China, there are ongoing bilateral talks as far as contentious South China Sea issues are concerned,” he said.

Roque stressed that the Philippines had been protesting the militarization or the stationing of military hardware on the reclaimed features, and this and other issues will be discussed by Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou, leader of the Chinese delegation, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Enrique Manalo, who heads the Philippine panel.

“The Philippine government has consistently filed protest; and even during the term of President Duterte, we have filed protest,” Roque said.

Roque said that they were announcing the meeting of BCM tomorrow to show the public that there was a mechanism to address the issues. He said that there is no need for another protest as what the Philippines sent had the nature of a “continuing” one.

The presidential spokesman also stressed that the current foreign policy of the government toward China is for non-contentious issues such as trade and investments to proceed as soon as possible and for contentious ones to be threshed out in bilateral negotiations.