MANILA, Philippines - Members of Filipino and Vietnamese cause oriented groups staged a protest in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati Friday afternoon as they decried Chinese agression in the South China Sea and demanded that Beijing pull out an oil rig it had placed in disputed waters being claimed by Vietnam near the Paracel Islands.
“By supporting our Vietnamese neighbors, 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).
Rogelio Santos, chair of Filipinos Unite, added that China's installation of an oil rig in Vietnamese territory is a wake-up call to the international community.
“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 are very real,†he said.
“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.