27/02/2014
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| Jose Maria Sison, head of International People's Struggles (ILPS) (downloaded internet photo) |
The founder of the Communist party of the Philippines
(CPP), Jose Maria Sison, crtiticized what he called “China’s absurd
imperialist and capitalist designs in the West Philippine Sea including the
Panatag Shoal, where Chinese poachers triggered a standoff between Philippine
and Chinese authorities. He paragoned China’s claims as and like “Italy claiming all areas previously
occupied by the Roman Empire.”
According to Sison, presently head of the
International People’s Struggles (ILPS), “The name China Sea was
invented by European cartographers and should not lead anyone to think that the
entire sea belongs to China. In the same vein, neither does the entire Indian
Ocean belong to India.”
Sison’s remarks came in
response to questions posed by Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes about the
standoff between the Philippines and China at Panatag Shoal, internationally
known as Scarborough Shoal. Bayan, shared Sison’s answers with the Inquirer by
e-mail.
International
Convention Definitions
“The United Nations
Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the strongest legal basis for the
definition of the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of the
Philippine archipelago,. Also, archaeological evidence shows that the
islands, reefs and shoals at issue have been used by inhabitants of what is now
the Philippines since prehistoric times,” Sison said in a rare agreement with
the position of the government.
President Benigno Aquino
III, in his statements on disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea, has
repeatedly referred to the Unclos and its provision for a 200-nautical-mile
exclusive zone in explaining the legitimacy of the country’s claims in the
disputed waters.
“As a matter of
principle, the Filipino people must assert their national sovereignty and
Philippine territorial integrity over the issue of the Spratlys (Kalayaan) and
other islands, reefs and shoals [that] are well within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone defined by the Unclos,” Sison said.
“According to the
Philippine reactionary government, it submitted on time to the UN the necessary
scientific and technical grounds to define the Philippine 200-mile EEZ under
Unclos,” Sison noted.
He said there was
archaeological proof that “the islands, reefs and shoals at issue have been
used by inhabitants of what is now the Philippines since prehistoric times.”
“But the Philippine
reactionary government muddles the issue and undermines its own position by
making historical claims that date back only to a few decades ago when
pseudo-admiral Tomas Cloma made formal claims to the Kalayaan group of
islands,” Sison said, reverting to his usual criticism of the government. [http://globalnation.inquirer.net/34279/sison-chides-china-for-absurd-panatag-claim#ixzz2uULZEJBy]
In answer to the
question by Renato Reyes on how the Filipino people should react to the
incursions of China in territories claimed by the Philippines, Sison said the
government “should desist from self-fulfilling its claim of China’s aggression
by engaging in an anti-China scare campaign.The Filipino people and progressive
forces must oppose what may be deemed as incursions and what may appear as
aggressive behavior of China with regard to the territories belonging to the
Philippines,”
Sison added that the
Filipino people and progressive forces "must consciously differentiate their
position from that of the Aquino regime, its military subalterns and its
Akbayan special agents who pretend to be superpatriots against China but are in
fact servile to the interests of US imperialism. According to him, tThe Aquino
administration and its allies are using the anti-China campaign “to justify the
escalation of US military intervention in the Philippines and US hegemony in
the Asia-Pacific region. Sison do not believe that the United States and China would go to
war against each other. The United States is a treaty ally of the Philippines,
with such military accords as the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces
Agreement.
Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/34279/sison-chides-china-for-absurd-panatag-claim#ixzz2uUOdypTX
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