Philippines Seeking Defence Ties With India After China's Moves

MANILA: Worried over increasingly aggressive moves of China to stake claim on disputed reefs in the South China Sea, the Philippines is looking at establishing defence cooperation with allies, including India, a top official said here.

The Philippines is watching with heightened concern China's moves at reclamation work on four reefs in the Spratly Islands that Manila says fall in its exclusive territorial waters. China has transformed one of the reefs, called Mabini Reef, in the South China Sea into a fully equipped naval base, complete with refuelling and weapons loading facility, and with a suspected air strip, officials said here.

Philippines Foreign Ministry spokesperson Charles C. Jose said that Manila had lodged a protest with Beijing over the reclamation work, "but China rejected it and said it is their territory". He said from the size of the structures that China was building on Mabini Reef, "we can surmise they are building military structures".

The Philippine Star this week came out with a front-page news item along with satellite images of China's construction activities on the reefs in the South China Sea.

Besides Mabini, which is also called Johnson South Reef, China has begun full-scale reclamation projects on three other nearby reefs - on Burgos, Kennan and Calderon reefs. These fall in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the Spratlys Islands.

China is a signatory to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with the 10 ASEAN countries, according to which the countries are to resolve their territorial disputes through peaceful means and also refrain from inhabiting the uninhabited islets and reefs in the disputed waters. However, the document is non-binding in nature.
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