Manila vows to block China’s militarization of Scarborough Shoal

MANILA – The Philippines on Friday said it would not allow China to militarize the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, where Beijing has recently announced it would transform the area into a nature reserve.

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner said the Philippines was also looking at expanding the scope of large-scale joint military exercises to include more training with like-minded countries beyond its traditional ally, the United States.

He said Manila would prevent any moves by China to make Scarborough Shoal into a militarized area, similar to what Beijing did at Mischief Reef in 1995, where they first built a small structure ostensibly as a resting spot for fishermen caught in bad weather.

“And in fact, they said anybody can use it. And so we allowed them to do that,” Brawner told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP). “Later on, they built it into an artificial island, a militarized island that is now equipped with missile systems, radar systems, a big airfield that could accommodate jet fighters and even cargo planes and so on.”

“So we do not want that to happen to Scarborough. That’s why we are closely watching” their actions, he said. Once the Chinese are monitored to have built structures in the area, the government will quickly address the issue diplomatically.

Known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines, Scarborough Shoal is considered a traditional fishing ground for generations of Filipino fishermen. It lies just 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) west of the country’s main Luzon island inside the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone.

In contrast, it is 472 nautical miles to the nearest Chinese province of Hainan. Still, Beijing claims historical rights over the shoal despite its proximity to the Philippines, making the maritime feature a potential flashpoint of conflict.

The shoal, a U-shaped rocky outcrop, has been under China’s de facto control for 13 years after a monthslong standoff in 2012. The Philippines took China to an international arbitration court in The Hague, which invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claims in a 2016 ruling. Beijing has rejected the ruling, even as world powers, including the United States, hailed the decision.

The same court also said China had violated the rights of Filipinos, who were routinely harassed by the China Coast Guard from going into the shoal area.

“Once they build a structure there, that would be a different story. We have several options that we could do. Diplomatically, we could file protests, but we are watching so that we will not have a repeat of Mischief Reef,” Brawner said on Friday.

Mischief Reef, which is west of the Philippines’ island of Palawan, has been transformed by the Chinese into an artificial island that has a runway, radar systems and and surface-to-air missiles. What happened there is a cautionary tale for Manila.

Last month, Manila’s foreign ministry formally filed a diplomatic protest against China for its announced plans to create a nature reserve in Scarborough.

The protest was a “strong, unequivocal and formal articulation” of Manila’s objection to the Chinese plan, it said. The creation of the nature reserve was announced on September 10, a move analysts said was meant to bolster China’s territorial claim to Scarborough, known as Huangyan Island in China.

China has countered that it was within its legal right to set up the reserve, which it claimed was aimed at protecting Scarborough’s ecological diversity. It said the Philippines’ protests were groundless.

China has been holding drills near Scarborough since February, with its Southern Command saying that they were meant to boost “the control of relevant sea and air areas,resolutely defend national sovereignty, and security and resolutely maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.”

At least two of its warships, backed by several aircraft, are frequently seen in the region.

Jason Gutierrez was head of Philippine news at BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA), a Washington-based news organization that covered many under-reported countries in the region. A veteran foreign correspondent, he has also worked with The New York Times and Agence France-Presse (AFP).