Justice Carpio bares invasion of PH islet

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio
 
Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio urged the government to act on what he called an “invasion of Philippine territory by China” as he confirmed Chinese ships were now guarding a newly created island well within Philippine territorial waters in the West Philippine Sea.
 
In a statement on Saturday, Carpio said two frigates, a coast guard vessel and two fishing boats of China were guarding Sandy Cay, a sandbar some 4.6 kilometers (2.5 nautical miles) from Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island that had permanently protruded above the water.
 
Carpio, in his statement, said the Chinese ships were “well within” the 22 km (12 nautical miles) territorial sea of Pag-asa and could not claim “innocent passage” or invoke freedom of navigation in the high seas to explain their presence in the area.
 
“Sandy Cay is a Philippine land territory that is being seized (to put it mildly) or being invaded (to put it frankly) by China,” Carpio said.
 
The senior Supreme Court justice was part of the team that won the arbitral ruling last year that invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea that infringed on the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
 
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