MANILA, Philippines – China’s statement on the sinking of a Philippine boat in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) insults the intelligence of Filipinos, said a leading maritime law expert, as he enumerated falsehoods made by China.
Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, also said China’s statement was “very revealing,” as “sometimes the truth leaks out in the effort to conceal it.”
“This is an insult to the intelligence of every Filipino,” Batongbacal wrote on Saturday, June 15.
He stressed that China’s response to the boat sinking incident will be “a test of its good faith” and an “indication of the amount of respect it has for Philippines-China relations.” But he said China’s press release on the incident was problematic.
Contradicting Filipino fishermen, China in this statement denied that a Chinese vessel sank and abandoned a Filipino boat in hit-and-run fashion. China said the Chinese vessel was, in fact, “besieged” by 7 or 8 Filipino boats, supposedly preventing it from helping the fishermen of Filipino vessel F/B Gem-Ver.
“With this press release, despite its subsequent and sudden retraction, it has utterly failed the test, and shown that in truth it has absolutely no respect for this country and its citizens,” said Batongbacal.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr on the other hand said of China’s claim: “Interesting. That’s China’s take and it is a free world.”
This comes nearly a week after a Chinese ship sank a Philippine boat near Recto Bank (Reed Bank) in the West Philippine Sea. Recto Bank, which belongs to the Philippines, is an underwater reef formation that is said to contain huge reserves and oil and natural gas.