Filipino, Vietnamese groups to picket China consulate office

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino and Vietnamese groups will picket the Chinese Consulate on Friday to protest China’s intrusion in the South China Sea and Beijing’s placement of an oil rig in disputed waters near the Paracel islands which is also being claimed by Vietnam.

“By supporting our Vietnamese neighbors in their rally, we are showing that we are all one on the issue of China's aggression in the region and illegal usurpation of Paracel islands in the South China Sea,” said Nicolas Lewis, chair of the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), which also led protests against China’s intrusion of Philippine waters in 2011.

“We object in the strongest possible terms, China’s deployment last week of a deep sea oil rig known as HD-981 within Vietnam’s continental shelf. We therefore express solidarity with the Philippines against Chinese aggression in defiance of International law and UNCLOS (United Nationals Convention on the Law of the Sea),” said Hoi Trinh, member and founder of Philippine-based group, Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment (VOICE).

Trinh and other Vietnamese nationals in the Philippines are calling on Vietnamese and Filipinos in the Philippines to join the rally at 12 noon.

“The brazen installation of China’s oil rig into Vietnam’s territory is a wake-up call to the international community. It clearly shows that China’s intentions, willingness and capability to illegitimately occupy and extract the resources of other nations in blatant defiance of international law is very real,” said Rogelio “Vonz” Santos, chair of Filipinos Unite (FU) and member of USP4GG.

“What happens here sets the stage of how the international community must respond to avert this threat from wildly spreading. This is why we, as Filipinos, stand against China’s actions together with our Vietnamese brothers and sisters – for they are now where we could have been and where we could be if we don’t nip these actions in the bud,” he added.

“This is again an example of China using its military might to bully the Vietnamese and grab valuable energy resources from the Vietnamese people,” added Atty. Ted Laguatan, USP4GG spokesperson and legal counsel

“We also protest China’s fishermen who caught illegally poaching in our waters,” said Lewis.