Five years after China’s South China Sea was ruled, Reuters’ growing presence in the Philippines is growing

By Karen Lema

CATO, Philippines (Reuters) – Filipino fisherman Randy Megu has often faced storms in the South China Sea, but today he is more afraid: to see a Chinese naval enforcement vessel on the horizon.

Five years after a major ruling by the International Court of Arbitration rejected China’s claims in Megu’s fishing waters, the 48-year-old has complained that encounters with Chinese vessels are more frequent than ever.

“I was so scared,” Megu said, of how a Chinese ship in May tracked its wooden boat for three hours off the coast about 140 nautical miles (260 km) in May.

He said other fishermen complained that they had been blown or blown up with water cannons while working on what they considered to be their historic fishing site – which they hoped to secure after the Hague ruling in 2016.

China rejected the ruling and has claimed most of the water within the so-called Nine Line, which is also being sued by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a single incident in March, the Philippines reported that there were more than 200 Chinese militia ships in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as they stretched 200 nautical miles off its coast.

Chinese diplomats said the ships were sheltered from the rough seas and there were no militias.

“The data here is very clear,” said Greg Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “Chinese Coast Guard vessels and militias have been in the Philippine EEZ for more than five years.”

A July 2020 poll showed that 70% of Filipinos want the government to claim its claim in the South China Sea.

“We strongly reject attempts to remove it; nor to erase it from law, history and our collective memories,” Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin said in a statement last month.

The country has held 128 diplomatic protests since 2016 over conflicting activities in China’s waters, and the Coast Guard and fishing vessel office have conducted “sovereign” patrols in the Philippine EC.

But the Philippines has done nothing else to make its claim in front of Grand President Rodrigo Duterte. He has turned his relationship with China into a foreign policy plan and said it was “useless” to try to deal with his larger neighbor.

After some of his cabinets spread rhetoric across the water earlier this year, Dutert prevented them from speaking.

“China has more control. The only thing the Duterte government can point out is that they haven’t had a big incident,” Poling said. “If you continue to give in to the persecutor, of course, there will be no fighting.”

The Philippine Coast Guard and Defense Ministry have not responded to requests for comment.

China’s presence has also grown in other parts of the South China Sea. It has continued to strengthen artificial islands with safe harbors, runways and surface-to-air missiles.

Clashes with Vietnam have delayed energy projects. Malaysia has denounced the actions of Chinese ships. Their presence has also raised concerns in Indonesia, although it is not technically a claimant state.

The U.S. Navy’s occasional freedom of navigation operation has called into question China’s claims, but does not show that it is advisable to deploy ships to the Philippines or elsewhere in Beijing.

Before the 2016 election, Dutert said he would support his country’s claims in the South China Sea.

He is due to step down at the end of his six-year term next year, but the debate over whether he could be vice president or replace his daughter has raised doubts that policies will change.

Pangasinan fishermen now see little hope for the Chinese vessels that now promise their movements.

“Now it’s like we’re going to be stealing our backyard,” said 51-year-old fisherman Christopher de Vera.