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Philippines must protest over Beijing’s ‘little blue men’ or waive South China Sea claims, Rodrigo Duterte’s government told
- The Philippines has lodged a formal protest with Beijing after spotting what it says is a militia of more than 200 Chinese vessels around Whitsun Reef
- But it has also played down the friction, annoying its fishermen and prompting legal experts to warn it risks waiving its rights
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Manila must keep protesting against Chinese incursions in the South China Sea, or be seen to have given up its territorial claims, experts said on Monday.
The warning came as the Philippines issued a formal diplomatic protest to Beijing after revealing that more than 200 Chinese vessels had been moored at Whitsun Reef since March 7.
Called Julian Felipe by the Philippines, the reef lies within both the area claimed by the Philippines as its exclusive economic zone and the nine-dash line with which China claims more than 90 per cent of the sea.
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Manila claims that the boats, which weren’t fishing when sighted, belong to a Beijing-backed militia – known as the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) and sometimes referred to as Beijing’s “little blue men” – that China uses to seize maritime territory on an unofficial, deniable basis.
On Sunday, the Philippine defence department demanded that China “stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our maritime rights and encroaching into our sovereign territory.” It said it was “coordinating” with other government agencies “for appropriate action”.
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Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo said air and naval “assets” had been sent to “conduct air and maritime sovereignty patrols to further validate the report”.
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